Happy HUMP Day and I have a post for you that will bring COLOR to your world and trust me…..ANYONE can do this and the END RESULT is ALWAYS stunning with the help from our Stampin’ Up! Stampin’ Blends!
Yesterday I went to a Copic Coloring Class with a super fun team member, Ramsey…and we had a ball! I called our “continuing education” time together the best L.L.L. time together (Lunch, Learning and Laughter)….and while we were having some crafting fun naturally we chatted…..and naturally one topic came up about – Stampin’ Blends vs. Copics. I will share with you my thoughts….
Today I want to flood you with pictures that were all created with the Stampin’ Blends
I was doing the “happy crafting dance” when Stampin’ Up! came out with our own branding of an alcohol based maker last Fall….called Stampin’ Blends! They are a great addition to our line of products. I hope that you can see with these pictures the beauty and vibrance of these markers and the best thing…..
The Stampin’ Blends match our Stampin’ Up! colors…no thinking – one bit!
Currently the Stampin’ Up! Collection of Blends have 12 of our color combinations available and I am hoping that they will continue to add more colors as we go forward. Below you will see the offerings as of now. We all know one of the KEY FACTORS of Stampin’ Up! that we all love is our amazing color coordination throughout our line of products! I know that many of you have a sticker shock with them but hang tight and read on!
Each color has a light and a dark of the color family. I think that the biggest misconception of these markers is that you need to know how to blend…NOPE….and guess what – This post is for YOU if this is your thought….
These markers are simply “dream machines” as an alcohol based marker simply glides over paper….with no start and stop marks (streaks) and just absorbs into the paper you are coloring. You can use our regular or thick whisper white cardstock. The important thing to remember is that you do need to use a proper ink…..Memento is a perfect ink for the Blends.
Later in the pictures you will see that the “bleed through” is totally normal so I suggest that you always have a scrap piece of paper under what you are coloring. When I am at home coloring, I always use the Grid Paper, (one of the most useful SU products we have) to protect your work area.
Do you remember that John and I went to Durham to help Hannah move earlier in the month? While we were driving I had a ball coloring these cards! When I pulled out my markers and got all settled in the front seat….I can remember John looking over and said, “You are going to try to color?”….I said – YEP…I think I can do it and SHAZAM…..I was able to do it with no problems!
For my monthly card kit I made this card as a thank you for the people that bought my kit. I just adore to color as it not only is rewarding, it is relaxing. I used a 4 x 4 piece of paper that is from the Petal Passion DSP which will result in (9) cards yielded from one piece of the DSP. This collection of paper is fabulous to color but this particular patten is my favorite.
I sat there with my trusty board that I like to color on and this container with all of my Blends in them. If you are wondering what the tape is on my markers….it is a way I can identify what set I have as I do have (2) complete sets of these. I really do love to color and I like to keep one in this container that I can just grab and go and the other set is up in my work area.
You can see that anything goes and that is the FUN part to me. I did NOT blend once and I think, they look great (if I must say so myself) All I did was color a section with the light marker within the color family and then took the dark one and if there was a black line in the DSP image, I would do a swipe with the darker color and THAT IS IT!!!
Below you can see a visual of a finished card…I admit, I love to mat….so the one to the left is my style of preference but truly….they are all super-de-duper with a HUGE WOW FACTOR and a card that would definitely make anyone smile!
Because I did 54 of these cards in the brights……I thought – what the heck….pull out the Crumb Cakes, Smoky Slates and neutrals (the Ivory and the Bronze) markers and give them a whirl…..below is the result and I still think that it is stunning! I colored the white background of the DSP with the Dark Pink Pirouette and the result – woot-woot!
I was a bit sad as I finished all that I had to do while driving to Hannah’s as I had no idea how long it would take….and I was a little toddler with her lower lip hanging down as I had nothing to do on the drive home…..
Now…..let’s go the contrast….my stash of Copic Markers…..I KNOW…I KNOW…I have a ton of them but heck, I do love crafting and I do love to color. After Stampin’ Up! had to pull the blendabilities several years ago (which WAS THE BEST DECISION) I had already caught the Alcohol Marker bug….
I continued my love and started with Copic Markers. These are fabulous markers but they are expensive. Actually….they can rang from around $5.25 to $7.50 a piece and the color range….endless – there are many, MANY more colors than what I have but I just wanted to show you my stash.
What can I say but I do love to craft and crafting truly is therapy and joy to me and the people that I have met along the way….PRICELESS!
When Stampin’ Up! reintroduced an alcohol markers I knew that I would still purchase them as after all, I am a Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator….and I do love the concept and feel of an alcohol marker.
The Stampin’ Blends ARE a fabulous product and Stampin’ Up! nailed it with their debut. When I am asked…which ones do you recommend…..I sigh as that is a super hard question to answer and guess what – you probably are not going to like my answer…..
I would get them all….
Yep, I do realize that it IS an investment but it is an investment that you will not regret. You can clearly see the investment that I have put into my Blends (2 sets) and also all of my Copics that I have but….heck, some people like to buy shoes….I like to invest in quality crafting products.
Now is the BEST time to get them all. We all know that Sale-A-Bration is the best time of the year with Stampin’ Up! and during Sale-A-Bration you can choose to get the complete set of Blends as your starter kit and just pay $99 and it would ship for FREE…(that in itself is another savings of $12.50) plus you can pick ANY (2) stamps that your heart desires. (what would you pick)
There are no obligations what so ever to do anything other than enjoy your product, continue to order with a discount or simply get the deal and be done….please feel free to email me if you have any questions…..
My addictions in life are the 3 C’s – Critters, Crafts and Cooking….and I have fun with them all…please do not be fearful that you have to do anything like sell, teach or blog…..I adore hobbiest as I get it – you like to craft and you like a good deal……ME TOO!
Ready to get the deal now…..click here and you will be a happy stamper!
Glad to see the first L of your LLL was lunch! I love these cards you made. Even the gray flower is a stunning! I only have half of the new blend markers so I need to add a couple to my next order which is today. OK I gotta ask, what did you do on the way home? You could have picked up some fun color books to play with. Anyway, I think I need some play time with my 1/2 sheet from the shares and the blenders I do have.
Story time or as I see it – justification time. Justifying the purchase of more blender pens and the play time! While I was at the cabin fever stamping retreat Saturday Mike went and bought himself some tools or something like that and looked at cars in the morning. We met for lunch and then I went back. Well, he decided to go look at exercise equipment. Oh gee, for “our” valentine’s present he decided to get an new expensive gadget. It is sort of a sit down elliptical type of deal. I am not one for going to work out though I did for a period when I worked at the hospital and used theirs. But, you had to be at least 5 foot tall to use some of the machines. So, I basically used the treadmill and the recumbent bike. So, Mike knew I liked the recumbent bike but when he tried it out – he didn’t like it at the store. So, he thought this would be just the greatest thing for both of us to use. He did take me there after the retreat to make sure I could manage to use it. Gee, I remember when we lived in Houston we would give each other a rose bush for the rose gardens in the back yard. Boy, time changes! Anyway, back to the story about the time to play… I needed to clean out the back bedroom where tons of junk, magazines, craft items, Christmas stuff etc. ended up so the machine could go in there. Well, he thought it was coming today so that only gave me a couple days to sort through stuff and move it out. Of course, my arms hurt, hands hurt as well as the fingers but I think I need to use occupational therapy methods with coloring to help with that! Also, my lower back is hurting. It is sort of like when my pelvis was tipped the wrong way and one of our medical residents was a D.O. was able to align it better for me when we were in Houston. Anyway, I have never gone to a chiropractor – do I go and hope I can walk better? Or, try to stretch it back and milk it for all it’s worth? The machine comes next Tuesday. I’ll get back to you as right now I am going to go play with my blender pens!
Beautiful coloring job! I love the blends and they are so easy to use especially choosing the right color. Sounds like you and Ramsey had mucho fun on your excursion. ?
Well, these are certainly beautiful!!! I tried to color the other day. I’ll send you a pic. I kept telling myself just do it.
🙂
I thought you were talking about another type of flower! I LOVE these! Now that I see them all beeuuuutifully inked I need to try it! Our “continuing education” was the best! Yes, full of L.L.L.!!! As for the C.C.C.’s you know I am into the first two! As for the last one, keep those awesome recipes coming! They are the only good things I can cook!
Wowser. Your coloring on that paper is stunning. You really have me thinking about the blender pens. So far, I’ve kept hanging in there with the water color pencils. Really like those.
I have the itch to color now! Beautiful