March is Roaring In.....

so hopefully that means it will go out like a lamb. All our snow had melted here and I thought we might have been out of the (snowy) woods. No such luck. The kids and I are home today and before I go out and shovel, I thought I'd post a little something.

I was really intrigued with the super cute stamps of The Greeting Farm so yes, I placed an order. I have a couple of the little Anya's that haven't seen ink but these older Anya's screamed for ink so they got used first. I have stamped a bunch of images and this is the first to get colored. She is colored with a mix of prismacolor and copic markers and her hair is colored with a pc colored pencil and blended with baby oil. I thought her boots needed a little something more so I added a couple of Amuse teeny twinkle stones just to make them sparkle. When I run out of those, I'm thinking stickles with look cute too.

Last week I was asked about my baby oil and pencil technique. It's super simple so I thought I'd show you a few pictures. Feel free to skip the next part if you are not interested.

First off, I just use regular old baby oil from CVS. Below that is my blending stump. I'm very lucky that I have a Jerry's Artarama by me so I picked up some there. If you google, you will find online sources. And I know if you search older threads at Splitcoast, you will find a wealth of information on them. I have a few different sizes that I use depending on the size of the area that I want to blend.

  I stamped up Anya and colored her with my markers first. I don't know why I do the markers first and hair last but that works for me. You may have your own routine on that one.

Here she is, ready except for her hair.

  For this next picture, I lightly colored her hair with my prismacolor colored pencil. This one I kept fairly light uniformly. Sometimes I will add areas that are darker with more color put down.

And finally, she's ready for blending. I dip the end of my stump into the baby oil. I do so sparingly. If you have too much, it may make your paper oily. If I get too enthusiastic with the oil, I wipe a bit off on a scrap piece of paper before touching it down to my image. I can always go back over it again with more if need be so I try to go light if possible.

As the baby oil touches the pencil, it will smooth it out and move it around. I'm done when I'm satisfied with the look.

A note on paper....since I am using my alcohol markers, I did stamp on Papertrey white cardstock and I used my palette noir inkpad. I do not have any Gina K or SU white so I don't know how those compare. I do have other white cardstock which I will use when not using my alcohol markers but I have definitely found the palette noir ink to be the best for me, even when just using the baby oil.

Then just finish your card. I have found the colors to be much more subdued with the pencils than with the markers and it is a bit more work as it is two steps. I like to mix and match techniques which is why you see the combo of marker and pencil, a combo you will see often in my stamping, especially when it comes to people.

Now I have to go shovel! Have a great day!

Comments

[Kristina Byers]

Very cute. Thanks for the info on baby oil. I am brand new to stamping and looking for all the information I can get.

[Laura]

Yep - I color in the entire area, some areas lighter, some a little darkers and then I go back and smooth out the colors.
The oil does NOT leave a residue but I suspect that may be because of the way I fill the entire area with color and then smooth over. Not sure if there would be an oil stain if I left parts bare and tried to pull the color in.

[bonnie]

Very cute Laura, so you color your whole image first, then come back with the baby oil?

[Gina Lindsay]

I just got this stamp set as a gift from a friend. Love your coloring. I have never used baby oil to blend with. it doen't leave a residue on your paper?

[kat9]

Really cute. I love these Greeting Farms cards. Wonderful colors.

[Dell]

Thanks for sharing the tutorial. This card is really sweet.

Dell

[Mary]

Miss Anya looks adorable! I have these stamps too and they are just so much fun to color!

[Felicia E.]

This is an adorable card. I love how you showed us how to color her using baby oil. Thank you so much!

[Kim]

This card is super cute! Great job on the tutorial. I may have to try the technique. I've never tried blending with baby oil before. Very interesting...

[Pearlabella]

She is so cute....luv the coloring SISTAH!

hugs
Pearlabella

[Ashley]

Your coloring is fantastic! I have a challenge on my blog to win some Greeting Farm. I just thought I'd mention that since you have this cute Anya card on your blog.

[Kay]

Snow?? What is this snow of which you speak?? us Florida people know not...
Great job with the tutorial - I've never tried the baby oil thing before but you make it look super easy (which I am sure it's not IRL!)

[Siobhan]

This is so precious! I love the colors you chose! That argyle bg is just perfect for it, too!

[Stephanie]

What a great technique, Laura. I have to borrow some baby oil the next time I'm at my mom's b/c I definitely want to give this a try!

[Rebekka]

This is so adorable, I love these images, I do not own any, but love seeing what you ladies do with them.