Memento Ink

Sale-A-Bration Stamp Sets Are Here!

Are you ready to color some Darling Donkeys with Stampin’ Blends, like I did for these adorable cards? The Darling Donkeys Stamp Set is a Sale-A-Bration freebie, and one not to be missed!

Cards made with Darling Donkeys Stamp Set and colored with Stampin' Blends.

I love that one of the best times of the Stampin’ Up! year is here! It is time to Sale-A-Brate, and between now and February 28, 2021, your purchase of Stampin’ Up! products earn you a FREE item(s).

Question: What’s the big deal, you may think, everyone has the ability to earn free product any time of the year. What makes Sale-A-Bration special?

Answer: During Sale-A-Bration (or SAB), a minimum order of $50 earns you a free product from the select offerings. During the rest of the year, you would need an order totaling $150 before you earn something for FREE.

Quick and Easy Cards

Card made with Darling Donkeys Stamp Set in Seaside Spray, and colored with Stampin' Blends. — I colored each donkey’s inner ears and muzzle with the Light Crumb Cake Stampin’ Blend.

My time is extra short right now, and I need to make quick and easy cards. With the Darling Donkeys Stamp Set and Stampin’ Blends, I was able to do just that, and made 3 different cards in under an hour.

First, I stamped the 3 donkeys from the Darling Donkey Stamp Set using Memento Black Ink on White Cardstock. If there were more images, I would have kept stamping, these donkeys are so cute!

I could have easily left the stamped images as plain rectangle shapes, but decided to die-cut them with the Stitched So Sweetly Dies instead. This adds another sweetness to the Darling Donkeys!

Just Add Color, With Stampin’ Blends

Card made with Darling Donkeys Stamp Set in Terra-Cotta Tile, and colored with Stampin' Blends. — On this card, I used Stampin’ Blends in Dark Calypso Coral and Light Old Olive for the flower and stem.

I have to admit, I am not a huge fan of coloring. I like to keep it simple. The Stampin’ Blends really brought out the artist in me for these Darling Donkeys. And I didn’t need every color in the spectrum to create these colorful donkeys.

Memento Black Ink and Stampin' Blends used to color the Darling Donkeys. — Minimal supplies and minimal efforts is my motto when it comes to coloring.

I started coloring the outlines along the Darling Donkey stamped images with the Dark Smoky Slate Stampin’ Blend. Next, I blended in some Light Smoky Slate, leaving blank space in the middle of each donkey. I filled in that space with the Light Crumb Cake, and added more of this color to each donkey’s face. This creates lots of depth and highlights with little effort!

More Color Choices

As card-maker artists, color choice is important. But to be honest, I was in a hurry when I created these cards. So I based my color selection off of what was sitting on my desk at the time…the 2019-2021 In Color Designer Series Paper.

2019-2021 In Color Designer Series Paper — These colors are retiring in a few short months! Get yours before they are gone for good.

Sometimes laziness pays off, and these color choices worked great for my Darling Donkey Cards. From the 5 available colors in this collection, I chose Terra-Cotta Tile, Pretty Peacock and Seaside Spray. I thought the wood-grain style design worked best with my donkey cards.

These soon-to-be retired colors represented my card bases and the designer series paper. I also used like colored ink to add a little tone on tone stamping on my card base, as seen with the small asterisk or star or flower stamp (however you like to interoperate it!).

Card made with Darling Donkeys Stamp Set in Pretty Peacock, and colored with Stampin' Blends.

Creating Drama With Paper Scraps

My stamped and colored Darling Donkeys would look pretty plain without a fun background to kick around on. Stripes are super popular right now, and using paper scraps is not only economical, but fun!

I used a 3 x 4″ piece of Gray Granite Cardstock, and adhered 3/4″ strips of Crumb Cake and White Cardstock to it. I made sure that no matter which direction (horizontal or vertical) this piece worked for my card, that the stripes were horizontal in direction. Just personal choice, really.

Crumb Cake and Gray Granite Cardstock — When making the stripes for my card, I relied on small paper scraps on hand, stored separately in my craft room.

So Darling!

I hope that I have inspired you to create some Darling Donkey cards! They were quick and easy, and turned out so stinking cute. The reality is, you could substitute any stamped image for the donkeys and have just as much fun, with great results.

Make sure you stop by my online store while Sale-A-Bration continues to scoop up this great Darling Donkeys Stamp Set. Whether you use it for birthday cards, get well cards or thinking of you cards, it will make a sweet addition to your crafting projects.

To see another blog post that showcases the use of Stampin’ Blends, click here. Looking for great Stampin’ Blends organization tips? Check out this blog post! Get ready to color your world!

Just Add Color

This year, February has an extra day in it (Happy Leap Year 2020!). That means one more day of winter. Days, in my state, that are typically gray and brown and drab. So then, what’s a crafty person to do with this time on their hands? Color your world a pretty place, with Stampin’ Up!’s Stampin’ Blends.

Stampin’ Blends were introduced in 2018. When they first became available, there were 12 different colors, each with a light and dark shade. Ivory, Bronze and the Color Lifter round out the collection. Fast forward to the 2019-2020 Annual Catalog, and you can purchase blends in 36 exclusive Stampin’ Up! colors.

Stampin' Blends Collection — Pink Pirrouhette is a retired color, so the blends in that tone are no longer available.

Using Stampin’ Blends

Everyone can get professional looking results when coloring your world with Stampin’ Blends. These alcohol markers feature dual tips that don’t fray. The brush end is for larger images and the fine tip is for details. With minimal effort, you will glide ink on with ease, creating effortless shading and great coverage. Instant Artist!

Step 1

Stamp your image in Tuxedo Black Memento Ink onto Whisper White Cardstock. To get the darkest image possible, use the Stamparatus to apply multiple layers of black ink without fear of lining up the stamp properly each time. Choose an image that has plenty of coloring opportunity for the most fun.

Band Together Stamp Set and Stamparatus — The Stamparatus is a great tool with tons of features.

Tuxedo Black Memento Ink (water based) must be used when coloring with Stampin’ Blends (alcohol based). Just keep in mind the old adage, “opposites attract”. If you were to use StazOn Ink (alcohol based) in error, the blends color would bleed into the black ink outline and create…mud. Yuck.

Step 2

Next, place your image to be colored on a protective surface or use scrap paper underneath. The blends are designed to saturate the paper with intense color. As a result, the ink will bleed thru the back in some areas.

Start coloring, using both the light and dark shades of a Stampin’ Blend color. It doesn’t matter which tone is chosen first, the outcome is the same. No matter how much color you apply, the alcohol ink will not pill up and ruin your paper. And, you can color right over the inner black ink image lines with no ill effect.

Coloring with Stampin' Blends — This oversized flower image from the stamp set, Band Together, was colored with Stampin’ Blends in So Saffron, Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie and Granny Apple Green.

I prefer to begin with the lighter blend and apply generous coverage, then add some shadowing with the dark blend, followed by another application of light to soften the lines. A circular or scribble motion will help blend your color edges together.

Step 3

Use the Color Lifter as desired to change the look of your Stampin’ Blends coloring. This step is optional but will give your design another color dimension.

The Color Lifter appears to be a white marker, due to the cap color. Actually, it’s more like an invisible ink. It can be used to soften colors, as the ink “lifts” some of the shading off the paper. The Color Lifter will clean up edges as well as create highlights on your image.

Additional Tips and Uses of Stampin’ Blends

The artistic results you receive when using the Stampin’ Blends are phenomenal, but they do more than color stamped images. You can also color ribbon, changing white or ivory into your chosen tone. Do the same with embellishments like rhinestones, pearls and buttons.

Whisper White Crinkled Seam Binding Ribbon — I colored the Whipser White Crinkled Seam Binding Ribbon on the Silicone Craft Sheet. I cleaned the excess ink off the craft sheet with a baby wipe.

Stampin’ Blends have a rectangular barrel, so they won’t roll off the table like traditional markers. You should store the blends horizontally, so ink is readily available at either end of the marker. Stampin’ Up! offers stackable storage units for your blends to make organization easy.

Stampin' Blends Storage Trays — One set of trays will hold 30 Stampin’ Blends.

The Stampin’ Blends end caps let you know at a glance what color ink lies inside. Replace the tight fitting caps immediately after using your blend to prevent the alcohol ink from drying out too quickly. The blends are not refillable, but since they are sold individually, it is easy to replace one if you need to.

Stampin’ Blends make coloring quick, easy and fun with spectacular results. For a quick reference guide to Stampin’ Blends, print or pin a copy of my Do’s and Don’t’s Cheat Sheet.

Take your projects from drab to fab by adding some of these rainbow making tools to your crafty stash today. Visit my online store, https://juliemakson.stampinup.net and start with your favorite colors. Let your collection of Stampin’ Blends grow, and color your world.

The Maine Stamper

Julie Makson Stampin' Up! Independent Demonstrator

Coloring Darling Donkeys With Stampin’ Blends