One Layout, One Stamp Set, Three Christmas Cards

My family likes to tease me that I get fixated on things.  I'll find something I'm interested in and jump in head-first, learning everything I can, testing and experimenting and stretching the limits.  If you've been reading my blog faithfully, you'll notice I did that with Halloween and Stampin' Up!'s Monster Bash suite (and my obsession with that is not over yet....next week I'll have a decor piece I made from the Coffin Treat Boxes packaging....there's a peek of it in yesterday's Facebook Live video I posted, around the 8:00 mark).

However, it's now time to jump into other stamp sets and techniques.  Today, you'll see the God's Peace set (page 28 in the Holiday Catalog) used on the same card layout, but colored three different ways.

Coloring with Stampin' Write Markers

While Stampin' Blends alcohol ink markers are great for adding shading and seamlessly blending multiple colors, Stampin' Write Markers (which are dye-based ink) are incredibly easy to use and offer vibrant, rich color.  Each marker has a brush tip and a fine point tip, but I almost always use the brush tip.  I find that tip offers precise placement of the ink and offers a more natural coloring experience.

Another technique I like to use Stampin' Write markers for is to color directly on my stamps, both clear photopolymer and rubber.  For the sentiment above, I used a Garden Green, Real Red, and Crushed Curry marker to color directly on the stamp.  This sentiment actually says, "Sending love and light your way", but I chose to color only the "sending love and light", selectively omitting "your way".  That's two techniques you can do with Stampin' Write Markers!

No-Line Watercoloring

This was my first try at no-line watercoloring.  The idea is to stamp in a very light color of ink so that when the image is watercolored, the lines disappear beneath the watercoloring.  This attempt was not entirely successful, but I'm showing it to you anyways!  I want you to see that it's ok to try new things and that perfection is not necessary.  

I used Sahara Sand ink to stamp the image and it's still slightly visible.  What I would do next time is to stamp it on scratch paper once or twice before committing it to cardstock.  That would lighten the ink sufficiently for it to disappear underneath the watercoloring.  Garden Green, Crushed Curry, and Real Red ink pads with an Aquapainter were used.

Regular Watercoloring 

I used the same supplies as in the previous card but stamped the image in Staz-On Black ink (it's waterproof and won't bleed when water is applied).  Watercoloring is wonderful in that it's a forgiving technique - there can be uncolored areas, or areas where the color goes out of the lines, and it still looks great!  The vibrancy of the color is controlled by how much water is used to paint with.  In this card, I used more water which diluted the intensity of the ink color.

Another thing I did was to brush my damp Aquapainter over my sentiment-stamped Very Vanilla scalloped square (from the Layering Squares die set).  I adore the slightly blurred look it created!

I hope these tips give you the confidence to try coloring by different methods.  My aim is to give you your BEST stamping experience!  If you need any of the supplies to try today's tips and techniques, shop my online store here.  I'm listing below the main components of my cards today to assist you.

God's Peace stamp set

Stampin' Write Markers - Regals 

Aqua Painters

Staz-On Black ink pad

Garden Green ink pad

Real Red ink pad

Crushed Curry ink pad

Sahara Sand ink pad

Toile Tidings Designer Series Paper

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