Stampin' with Eva: My Three Favorite Coloring Tools for Cardmaking

Do you love COLOR? I sure do! As a child I had a few boxes of crayons, especially loving the 64 box with the sharpener built in. I loved my coloring books. Then I moved on to paint by number oil paintings.

As I grew into my teens I loved the huge variety of coloring tools available to explore. I had my fair share. Painting spirit posters in High School was so much fun!

During my college years I pursued a degree in Interior Design and used a wide variety of coloring tools and rapidograph pens to hand draw the furniture, and room designs for each project. I learned calligraphy and graphic design while there as well. That was long before computers did all the design work for you.

After marriage and our family grew with two children, it was fun to start all over again sharing with my kids the fun of being artistic and creative. They loved the paint with water books where the color bloomed on the page as you added the water. As they grew older I went back to college and became an elementary teacher. Art time was my specialty and my student's loved our weekly art hours. During the course of my teaching career believe me when I say I've seen my fair share of coloring tools of all types and new ways children used them (and not all for drawing or coloring! LOL)

It was during that time in the late 1990s or early 2000s, that I was introduced to Stampin' Up! as a company and their wonderful, quality products. I fell in LOVE all over again with COLOR! I loved how Stampin' Up! had color families and most of their coloring tools matched those color families.

Now fast forward to present day, I've been a Stampin' Up! demonstrator for 10 years (5 years while still teaching and 5 years retired and working this business and building customer relationships) and I still can't get enough of their color families and coloring tools.

So let me introduce you to my top three favorites that are available today - Stampin' Blends, Stampin' Write Markers, and Watercolor Pencils. Enjoy the collection of Stampin' Up! Videos that will help you learn about these tools and how to properly use them.

Stampin' Blends - They are alcohol based pens that are dual tipped. One end has a larger brush tip, the other end a fine point tip. (Notice those lines on the case near each cap? Those lines help you to know which end is which without having to remove the cap and look. AMAZING!)

These pens are ergonomic, color-coordinated with the color families, and quick drying. The pen sets come in a light and dark shade of each color set. These two shade choices allow you to color amazing line art with accuracy and build up layers of incredible shading so your images POP! If you are gentle and don't press the tips too hard, they will last a long while. You do need to make sure you get the pen cap snapped on tightly to keep the pen from drying out. Each 2 pen set costs $9.00.

Also available is a Color Lifter pen that costs $4.50. It is amazing in how it can make little boobers outside the line disappear. You just have to keep working the boober until it lightens up completely. Again don't press down too hard, just a light/soft touch will do.

Important! Only use the Memento Tuxedo Black Ink when you color with Blends. Do NOT use Stazon, you will have a mess!

Super Important! You should not color either the cling or photopolymer stamps with these Blends, then try to stamp the image. Bad for the pen and for the stamps.

Really Super Duper Important! Store these Blends horizontally to keep both ends working well.

Shown are three of my previous card designs that used Blends in coloring the images.

These You Tubes from Stampin' Up! are a few years old, but still applicable

on how to use your Stampin' Blends.

Stampin Write Markers - These water based, acid-free dual tipped pens have a flexible brush tip end for coloring and 0.5 mm fine tip end for writing or line touch up if an image doesn't stamp cleanly.

You CAN color inside images stamped with either Memento Tuxedo Black Ink or Stazon Ink.

You CAN color the cling or photopolymer stamps and then stamp the image. Clean up is easy with the Simply Shammy or Stampin' Scrub.

Important! Store these Stampin' Write Markers horizontally to keep both ends working well.

My collection of Stampin' Write Markers were purchased in the mid 2000s and are still working great! An extremely good value for your money.

The Cost of the entire collection in a storage box is $123.00. (You can get the marker set at half price if you get some friends to place orders and your party totals $450 before shipping and tax. AND you also earn $63 in more Free Products just by hosting! (Savings of $61.50 on the markers + $63 in Free Products = $124.50 worth of benefits by hosting, why wouldn't you want to?)

Shown are some of my cards colored with Stampin' Write Markers.

Here's a real oldie, but still valuable for learning about the Stampin' Write Markers. They have been around a long time and are top quality markers!

The four color families - Regals, Subtles, Brights, & Neutrals cost $30 per set.

2020-2022 In-Color Set cost $15

Here's a couple of classic YouTubes to help learn about using the markers

to do different card techniques.

Watercolor Pencils - These two sets are high-quality, smooth color pencils perfect for watercoloring stamped images. However, they can just be used for coloring without water too. The matching color families make selecting the right color so easy.

The pencils can be stored in a standing container for easy usage. You will need to find a quality pencil sharpener for these pencils. I recommend the battery operated Office Pro Helical Steel Blade Electric Pencil Sharpener with Auto-Stop Feature. Google for a retailer near you.

You CAN color inside images stamped with either Memento Tuxedo Black Ink or Stazon Ink.