Saturday, September 25, 2010

September Papertrey Ink Blog Hop

The challenge for Papertrey Ink's September Blog Hop was to create a project with a learned stamping skill.
One of my favorite skills (I really can't pick just one!) is using watercolor crayons instead of an inkpad. I learned this as part of the February 2010 Castaway Club Scrap kit. I used  a little spray bottle to spritz the stamp with water, then colored with the watercolor crayons, then stamp. Easy Peasy. I like to use different colors, in this case two greens on the leaves. The flowers didn't pop enough, so I went back and colored directly on the card and then used an aqua brush.  If it's really wet you can use a heat gun to speed up the drying.
When it had dried I drew a thin frame around it free-hand. I discovered that if I do this on a non-stick mat, I can hold the pen in one place and just slide the card. This eliminates the need to pick the pen up in the middle of a line.

Ingredients:
Papertrey Ink Vintage Cream cardstock
Papertrey Ink Four of a Kind stamp set
01 micron pigment black ink pen
small spray bottle with water
watercolor crayons, I used Faber-Castell

I have to say my favorite stamping tip came from my oldest younger sister who convinced me to go to CHA. When we were in the Papertrey Ink booth she said, "Buy Papertrey Ink stamps" lol. OK, she didn't have to twist my rubber arm much :D.