A Little Coloring and Shading

Here is another card using the gingham check technique for the background. This time I used two colors--Baja Breeze and Certainly Celery--rather than one. The bear, from the retired Teddy & Train set, was stamped with a Baja Breeze craft ink spot, embossed with clear embossing powder and then colored in with my Stampin' Up markers. I find it much easier to color and stay in the lines when the image is embossed. When coloring with markers, using small circular strokes without lifting the marker off the paper (or lifting as seldom as possible) helps everything blend nicer. If you avoid lifting the marker, you don't get those start and finish strokes. (Next time you have your markers out, stamp an image and then color it, first just how you would color and then coloring in a small circular motion without lifting the marker. You will see what I am talking about.) You notice that the little guy is lighter in some spots and darker around the edges? I wanted the little tummy and cheeks to look as though they were protruding in the light while the joints and fur are darker and shadowed. So once I was done coloring with the Baja Breeze ink, I then used a blender pen to lift some of the color off the face and tummy. I need a lot of practice with coloring and shading, but I think the bear looks pretty darn good. Actually, I think the whole card is very cute. All I need is someone to have a baby so I can send them this card--lol!! Happy Monday!