Happy Spring!

I can hardly believe that it's spring, and that I can see (at least some) of the grass in my yard. It isn't typical at all to be able to see my yard in March. I had a great time teaching a class at the scrapbooking store today for eleven lovely ladies. The card above is the third of four cards I taught in a class today. I was really inspired to look forward to spring, and chose some bright colors and a fun floral image from Club Scrap. By the way, if you don't have this image, you need it, and it's on sale at over 50% off! I don't work for Club Scrap, but even if I did, I would take advantage of this sale!

The technique on this card is very simple. Just stamp any image on cardstock with versamark ink. After stamping, use a cotton ball or q-tip to pick up some pastels. I really like Stampin' Ups pastels - they have a great color palette and are easy to use, but any will work. Pounce or rub your cotton ball with pastels over the image, and voila! The chalk will stick a bit more to the versamark, and create this really lovely "halo" of softer color around the image.

There are many more ways to use versamark than the few I've shared in these samples. Many of the stamping message boards have topics dedicated to over 50 uses. Check out Split Coast Stampers (scroll to post #10 for a long list) or Two Peas in a Bucket for some discussion on these ideas.

Versamark ink is very sticky. In order to clean my stamps throughly, I use StazOn cleaner, and then wipe it on my regular stamp cleaner (damp cloth or scrubber). I don't always clean my stamps, but I always clean them before and after using versamark ink. I clean the stamps before (only if they're dirty) so that the old ink on the stamp doesn't transfer to the pad. Your pad will still work well if it's a bit dirty, but it might transfer some unwanted ink to your project.

I can't resist sharing another card I made with the tulip stamp. Actually, when I first got this stamp, I wasn't sure what I would do with it - it is very large. But, you don't have to use the whole image of this (or any) stamp. Just ink the portion you want to use, and stamp that. Or, stamp the whole image and cut out the part you want. This card shows me using the three tulips on the left. I stamped this with blank ink, and colored it with pastels. A totally different look with the same stamp. That's why I love this stamp so much.

Hope these images remind you of spring if you live somewhere colder than me, or that you're enjoying the scenes of spring where you live!