Hello, friends! This will be the last of the weekly coloring tutorials. We’ve covered:
- Twinkling H20’s
- Watercoloring With Inks
- Three Step Poppin’ Pastels
- Sponged Watercolor Background
- Pencil Over Ink
- Watercoloring With Markers
All of these tutorials can be found here in the Coloring Today category. There are certainly other methods of laying down color, some of which fall more in the technique category rather than actual coloring, and I’d like to share a few of those with you from time to time. Rest assured they won’t require any contraptions or contortions to accomplish and the necessary supplies can be found in most stampers’ arsenals.
I haven’t ventured into Copic territory yet and Heaven knows there’s plenty of information available along those lines. I’ve experimented with Prismacolor pencils and odorless mineral spirits but every meager bit of knowledge I have about that came from Kirsten’s excellent tutorial here.
Today we’ll be using one of my favorite coloring mediums, soft chalks.
Chalks are one of the easiest methods I know for shading images. One color brushes over the other smoothly with a soft, feathered edge. There’s no worry about smearing or dissolving inks. You can highlight an area by rubbing it with your finger. Errors can be erased. They’re nearly failsafe.
There are 51 colors at my fingertips in this Stampin’ Pastels case from Stampin’ Up! I used just two colors and one double-sided sponge make up applicator to color my flowers.
Begin by stamping three flowers in Chocolate Chip ink on scraps of Whisper White cardstock:
Apply Cameo Coral chalk to the flower petals. Use a light touch and short strokes. You can also use a patting motion to apply the chalk. There’s no need to rub or scrub — it will just wear out your sponge and rough up your paper. We’re going for a soft, hazy look. Imagine pink cirrus clouds.
Apply Ruby Red for shading. Concentrate some color in the flower center then pull some color outward — point the tip of your applicator at the flower’s center, then use light short strokes to brush the color toward yourself. You’re pulling rather than pushing the color. Imagine yourself brushing a speck of dust from a delicate surface. Brush and lift at the end of the stroke. Exact placement of color isn’t necessary — just bring some out from the center and brush along a few of the petal edges. Don’t worry about obscuring the inner lines. They’ll emerge refreshed once the spray sealer is applied.
You can use your finger to rub away color to create somewhat of a highlight in the broad area of the petal. This would be a soft and subtle effect. You can also use the eraser to remove color more distinctly. I used it to remove some color from those petal edges that appear to be turned up.
Once the coloring is completed to your satisfaction, spray with a matte sealer. Follow the directions on the can, applying three coats for best appearance. It dries very quickly. I always hold the image with tweezers and step outside to spray.
You can now cut out your flowers and place them on your card. I dotted my flowers with Cinnamon Stickles and placed a rhinestone in the center of each.
If you want to color an area such as those little spots you can do so before spraying, either with a marker or by picking up a little chalk with a blender pen and using it like a marker on your image. A blender pen will harden your chalks so be sure to touch it only to the corner or edge of the block. A few swipes of the blender pen on scrap paper will remove the chalk and allow you to move on to the next color, if necessary.
For information on shading a background with chalks, please refer to this tutorial.
I’ve had this Stampin’ Up! Embrace Life set since it first came out and this is the first time I’ve used it. I’d like to leave it on my table and create with it until I’m satisfied but I don’t know how much time I’ll have for that. I’ll give it a try, though. The papers and ribbon are retired from Stampin’ Up!. They come and go so quickly but there’s always something new to look forward to. The rinestones are from Flourishes.
I hope you found this information useful. I’ve been asked about the chalks many times. As always, practice makes perfect. Thank you for stopping by. Enjoy the rest of your day!
