What's that Wednesday

Sorry for not posting anything last night. It took me longer than expected to get everything done,packed and ready for my trip. Now if work wouldn't get in the way of fun I would be all set - ha ha ha. Well on with the important stuff.

This week I wanted to talk about one of my absolute favorite parts of stamping COLORING! And my favorite way to color is with Prismacolor Pencils. These are another pricey tool to have but well worth it for those of you who love to color. I love how smooth the color goes on and that they can easily be blended many ways. My favorite is using Gamsol or mineral spirits. I originally started with OMS (odorless mineral spirits) that were just sitting in my garage and I will say they worked very nicely but still had a but of an odor. The Gamsol is actually odorless (to me anyways). I got mine from Angela's Happy Stamper in Virginia, but it can be found at many LSS and online stores. I know Inky Antics and Gina K sell it in their online stores just to name a couple. You also need blending stumps for this process. You can find these at your local crafting store. They are actually just paper sticks that you dip into the Gamsol and use to pull the color around they come in different sizes and firmness. Try a few to see which work best for you. I prefer the Taiwanese over the Chinese ones because they are softer.

To blend using Gamsol I usually will color just the outer edges of my image and blend inward with my Gamsol. (I think we may need a tutorial in the next few days). This gives a very nice look. You can then add color to darken areas and keep blending as you go. It's actually very easy and there are several ways to blend - that's just the way I like to do it best.

You can also try the colorless blended pencil. When I use this I apply my different colors starting with the lightest first and use the colorless blended pencil at the very end. ( now I am really thinking pictures would have been a good idea). The same concept works for just blending colors as you go. I haven't tried this yet but heard it works. You start with the lightest color and just keep on adding and layering colors until you get the look you like.

While typing this I convinced myself a tutorial is in order. I am going to be at my parents this week and my Mom has been wanting to learn how I color too so maybe I'll give her a little class and snap some photos for you all. I'll post something Saturday so come check it out. If you have Prismacolor pencils, Gamsol, and blending stumps bring them along.

Now if you don't have Prismacolor pencils I started out with some Crayola colored pencils and Odorless Mineral Spirits and got a similar effect. It's not as smooth and you don't have as many colors to chose from but to give it a try it's a much cheaper version. I know there are many other pencils out there that people love, but I haven't tried any, so I can't compare. I also haven't done much with Copic markers yet, I am still debating about starting down that road. I am sure I will get hooked and I know those could get really expensive. I have played a little with Bic and Prismacolor markers, but I am no expert.

Please let me know if there is anything you would like to see reviewed on my What's that Wednesday - I can always use ideas! Thanks for stopping by!

Make sure you check back Saturday to see how I like to color! And Friday is our 10 minutes or less card reveal.

Happy Crafting!
Kimmy