True confessions time:  I have never tried the Poppin’ Pastels technique until now.  I know.  What was I thinking?

I thought it would be hard.  I thought it would be messy.  I thought it would look stupid.  I thought wrong!

• Inspired by Nature and Whimsical Words (SAB) stamp sets
• Certainly Celery and  Whisper White card stock; retired Designer Series Paper
• Versamark ink pad;  Certainly Celery and Almost Amethyst Classic ink pads
• Stampin’ Pastels, Curly Label punch,and So Saffron grosgrain ribbon (retired)
  
• Stampin’ Sponges, Brayer and Perfect Details Texturz plate

This is so easy and so fun.  Reminds me of those old coloring books way back in the time before dirt when you just dipped your paintbrush into water and painted it onto the page to reveal the colors.  It was MAGIC!  So is this.

Stamp your image in Versamark and be sure you use a clean Versamark pad, not the yukky one you keep just for embossing.  Open up your Stampin’ Pastels and grab one of the little applicators (they’re basically skinny little Q-tips) and start dusting the color where you want it.  You can mix and blend and shade to your heart’s content.  There’s even an eraser if you smudge the pastels onto the paper.  Too cool.

The other little trick I discovered is to use a brayer and a Big Shot Texturz plate to create visual texture on cardstock.  If you look closely at the Certainly Celery card base, you’ll see a design that isn’t embossed, it’s inked.  I just brayered the ink directly onto the Texturz plate, put the cardstock face down, covered it with scratch paper and brayered again.  More subtle than running it through the Big Shot.

Go try something new today!!