Over The Moon

Do you like to color? I was crazy about it when I was a kid, and I don’t think I’ve ever grown out of it. In fact, one of my favorite things to do on the weekend is to sit in my craft room, listening to music and coloring. It’s my happy place.

Today, the Stamping Through the Catalog Challenge (#sttcchallenge) is featuring the Over The Moon stamp set. This is such an adorable set, with the cutest sentiments, and it’s perfect for numerous coloring tools. For my card, I used Stampin’ Blends Markers. These markers are alcohol based and are sold both individually and in sets of two (a light and dark shade) for beautiful blending.

I recently watched a video by my TGIF Challenges friend, Paula Dobson, on her creative technique for coloring grass with Stampin’ Blends using the grass stamp from this set. I was so inspired that I wanted to give it a try myself. I didn’t copy exactly, and I’m not quite sure mine came out as good as Paula’s, but it sure was fun to try!

I started out by stamping the grass stamp randomly with Old Olive ink on a rectangle of Whisper White Cardstock. Then, I colored the entire grass area with Granny Apple Green Stampin’ Blends using long horizontal swipes with the brush end, starting with the dark shade on the bottom and fading up to the light shade. Afterwards, I used the fine tip of my dark Old Olive, light Old Olive, dark Granny Apple Green, and light Granny Apple Green Stampin’ Blends Markers to highlight the grass stamps and draw dots, similar to Paula’s video.

Next, I colored the entire sky with the brush end of my Balmy Blue Stampin’ Blends markers, again using long horizontal swipes for even coverage and blending from dark on the top to light midway down the card.

I stamped the two cows with Memento ink on a separate sheet of Whisper White Cardstock, cut them out with scissors, and colored them with the Stampin’ Blends Markers listed below. I also cut flower dies out of Whisper White Cardstock, using the Bouquet Bunch Dies and colored them with the dark Flirty Flamingo and light Poppy Parade Stampin’ Blends Markers.

Tips: I like to start with the dark shade, coloring where there would be shadows, and then go over that area with the light shade to reactivate the ink and blend towards the lighter areas. Color in small sections, so the ink doesn’t have a lot of time to dry. This allows for better blending. For the shadows under the hair, chin, and belly, I used the light Gray Granite Stampin’ Blend, and then I used the Color Lifter Marker to fade to white.

To finish off my card, I added some pretty Poppy Parade Brights Designer Series Paper. If you haven’t discovered these paper packs on page 168 of the Annual Catalog, they are fabulous! You get 40 sheets, 2 each of 2 double-sided designs in all 10 colors. (Sold by color collection.)

Have a wonderful and creative day!

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