Poppin’ Pastels | The Maui Stamper

Here’s another shot at Poppin’ Pastels. I had a great time with my first attempt and was anxious to try it again. I had a lot of fun with this:

Upsy Daisy and Thank You Kindly Stamp sets
Linen background stamp (retired) and Very Vintage jumbo wheel
Versamark ink and Lavender Lace and Certainly Celery Classic ink pads
Whisper White, Lavender Lace, Lovely Lilac, Bermuda Bay and Certainly Celery card stock
Stampin’ Pastels, Piercing tool and mat and White taffeta ribbon
Styled Silver Hodgepodge Hardware
Embossing Buddy, Clear Embossing Powder and Heat Tool

The colors came from Arielle’s ColourQ 26 challenge, and though I was skeptical at first, by the time I finished the card I was sold on this combination. I love how the Upsy Daisy images look sort of Impressionistic. Heaven only knows I could never do that with paint and a brush! That’s why I love to stamp – I can’t draw worth beans. Stamping does the drawing and I just get to be the creative genius that puts it all together 🙂

Once again I find myself apologizing for teasing you all with a retired stamp. The Linen background stamp is one of my all time favorites, and though I’ve tried to avoid using it sometimes I just cannot resist. It gives card stock that little extra something that causes it to stand out, and I just can’t make myself give it up. Sorry!

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!!