What inks are good for no-line coloring? Well there are of course many. But I have a favorite, and if you haven’t figured it out yet – it’s a hybrid ink that’ll work for a bunch of mediums. But to be sure I did a watercolor test too – and confirmed what was a gut feeling I had already.
Supplies for this project are linked at the end of this post. Compensated affiliate links may be used at no cost to you.
It’s the middle of March…are the birds singing at your house yet!?? I heard one this weekend and my heart was SO happy! Whether or not our feathered friends have returned where you live – these new Dear Friend Robin stamps from Colorado Craft Company are going to bring some sunshine inside!
Video:
This Copic card uses the no-line ink; I think Copic is probably the best medium for fully hiding the lines – but on nice BIG images like this. When it comes to tiny images, the Copic nib is too fat. Pair that with colored pencil or a regular #2 to tidy up tiny spots. ALSO – don’t forget to decorate inside the card like this!
On the left is the watercolor painted over the Pumice Stone distress ink. It muddied up some of the colors a bit – and as you saw in the video, it didn’t stamp evenly, which led to some of the leaves having harsher dark spots too. The one on the right uses the no line ink…much cleaner. I knew this intuitively, but it’s always good to test and confirm what I think will happen.
More new goodies from CCC
Not included in the video – the colored pencil (Polychromos) version…all inks will work great with pencil. If using pigment inks just be sure they’re good and dry. And that robin’s nest stamp? Oh wow. It took a while to color, but it’s stunning! If you don’t want to color it, just stamp it in a soft ink and just color the eggs.
Here’s me coloring the nest – I used a yellowish brown first to flood the whole nest area using Gamsol and a blending stump, then layered different browns to get the depth with negative coloring around each of the little twigs. Ok not each one. I gave up on following the outlines. LOL! You can see a Reel of it on Instagram later on today!
More from this release
You knew I’d be coloring up daffodils right? ha! I love going up to the flower fields in spring to photograph and paint – so I made my own scene! I added a little bit of rocks to the right of the stamped image using a fountain pen with waterproof ink, then the fields and farm buildings too.
Rose Cross is a pretty stamp designed by Australia’s own Sandra Herrgott of Tiny Sparrow Designs! (Her Etsy store and Facebook page are wonderful to go see!) This stamp is just a weeee bit large for an A2 card – it does fit, but without “air” around it like I felt it needed, so I went for a 5″ x 7″ card. I stamped it a second time and cut out the flowers, and a third to cut out and pop the butterflies. And….GLITTER! Yes yes I know. It’s everywhere. HA!
Clean Heart is one of the bookmark stamps…I did a simple watercolor wash over embossed stamps, then painted another layer inside the images. The text is embossed on heavyweight vellum – I tucked it between layers to secure it.
Be Still, another bookmark set, again with embossing and a watercolor wash. Easy peasy!
Hello Bunny will be a tutorial coming up in a week or two once I can get it edited and ready 🙂
Giveaway!
I’m excited to be able to GIVE AWAY two stamp sets each from this new release to three lucky people! Leave a comment here about HOW YOUR STUDIO/WORKSPACE LOOKS TODAY by midnight on the 18th! I actually was brave enough to post GAH video of mine HERE yesterday if you wanna feel better about yours! ha!
I’ll announce winners on Friday the 19th on my blog so be sure to pop back here to see if you won! Also – if you want to be sure you get notified, scroll down just a little farther on this post and subscribe so you’ll get Friday’s post delivered by email!
Supplies
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- Colorado Craft Company Stamps:
- Dear Friend Robin: EH Stamps – EH Dies – CCC Stamps – CCC Dies
- Robins Nest: EH Stamps – EH Dies – CCC Stamps – CCC Dies
- Hello Bunny: EH Stamps – EH Dies – CCC Stamps – CCC Dies
- Spring Season Daffodils: EH Stamps – CCC Stamps
- Rose Cross: • EH Stamps – EH Dies – CCC Stamps – CCC Dies
- Be Still bookmarks: EH Stamps – CCC Stamps
- Clean Heart bookmarks: EH Stamps – CCC Stamps
- Copic Marker card:
- Colored Pencil card:
- Watercolor card:
You did a fabulous job on all of those. But oh my goodness that nest with the three blue robin eggs…… absolutely unbelievably gorgeous! One of the prettiest things I have ever seen colored by anyone!
My craft space…HA! I can barely see it LOL I have about a 2-foot square desk that I craft on, and the desk in the chair and the floor beside the chair are piled with things that I’m having a hard time finding a home for. I made a little bit of Headway today, hopefully soon I’ll actually be able to sit down and craft because I owe a few cards to people. Here’s a giggle for you. I talk to type. But this software doesn’t speak Texan at all. When I said I had about a two-foot square desk to craft on, it typed a word that has two P’s in the middle and sounds a little bit like craft. How did it know? LOL
My craft space is a 14ft x 8ft posh shed at the bottom of my garden . I try to leave it tidy every nite as one of our cats sleep in there , next to the heater at this time of year. It’s my happy place and I love it . I retired 2 years ago and I’m down there every day .
My workspace is crowded and a little messy but it works. I wish I had a desk with a lot of drawers so things were more handy, but I’m glad to have a dedicated workspace.
This was fascinating to watch! It’s great that you tried out the inks to see how they work for no line coloring.
Thank you.
I’ll be honest I cleaned up my entire craft room, because I need to start prepping everything for an upcoming virtual retreat, Usually it isn’t this super clean, but I’ve been extra messy with the Gelli Arts March Printing Challenge.
Uhhh, it’s not the worst it’s been but not much clean counter/table area…. Lol! 3C knocked it out of the park again and you always inspire! Wow on the cards!!
My craft room is the calm before the storm, I am starting some birthday cards and Easter cards so, very soon my over-sized desk will look like a tornado hit it.
Your work inspires me to be a better artist. I would love to be able to switch between mediums like you do. The CCC is one of my favorite companies.
My craft room is a mess I can not wait for your video !!
My craft space is a corner of my laundry room. My hubby put pretty IKEA shelves up for me and I have my desk under a window. So I can watch the birds and keep my eye on the front path as part of my zoning out craft time!
I really enjoyed reading how you created your cards…they are all so beautiful! I need to get some of that No line ink! I can’t decide which one is my favorite! My craft room looks pretty good right now. I spent a whole week on it in January reorganizing it and cleaning out the junk. I still have some extra stuff in there and I still have some things I can’t find, but it’s definitely a lot cleaner than what it was!!!! I could barely walk through it and now, both of my dogs can come in and lay down and hang out with me if they want to! ❤️. Thank you again for sharing your talent with us!
My craft room is currently in a spare bedroom while we finish building a garage that will have a room just for me and crafting!! Your work is always inspiring and beautiful! Thank you for sharing your talent with us.
Everything you do inspires me!
I love your work. It literally looks like you could pick the Robin on the branch and the Robin’s eggs in the nest, right off the page. Just beautiful!!
Hi Sandy! My room is pretty tidy right now, I am getting ready to have 13 ladies and a few girls over for a card party/ outreach. I love your new releases!
Thanks for all your get posts!
Ginny Maxam
I really like the smaller tags and bookmarks and like how the images work on these ideas. I’ve had to move out of my craft area which was the corner at my computer desk. So now it’s just my lap area and a shelf that I can move about that has some stamps and supplies.
I wish I could leave a picture, not just tell you about my shared space, as words don’t express the chaos. I TRY TO ORGANIZE, but then I get inspired and before I can turn around, chaos ensues. My Mum and I have shared the space for quite a few years. However, recently my Dad has joined us in making cards for family and friends (recently means during Covid). Mum and I understand each other’s way of filing (making stacks or piles of stamps, stamped images, card stock, etc.). Dad does not and adds to the chaos as he rummages through the filing system to find double sided tape, scissors and the trimmer. Needless to say the shared space seems to be shrinking. The haven of creativity has turned into a black hole where paints, pens, rulers, adhesive etc. and sometimes my creative mojo disappear.
My craft room was clean this morning. Then I started working on a mini album I am making for my granddaughter then moved into mass producing some Easter cards for all the kids in my life…and it’s trashed again. I have to work tomorrow so it will have to wait for another day. Oh well…
My craft space is in the middle—not messy, but not clean, either! (Because I just finished all my Easter cards.).
Love these stamps, and LOVE what you’ve done with them, The bunny is adorable, and the nest looks like you pick it up with your hands,
Your cards are all gorgeous! I do love Colorado Craft Company’s stamps and I am going to need those Robin and nest stamps from this release. My craft room in inaccessible at the moment and there is currently no electricity in there, so I am working from the dining table in our living room. I only have a space about 18 inches by 12 inches clear to work on though, as the rest of the table is full of boxes of supplies (mostly ink, paints, embossing powder and embellishments)! The floor on either side of me is similarly stacked high with card stock, stamps and dies. I really need a much bigger house!
My craft “studio” is a corner of our bonus room over the garage, next to the window. I have a table and a Target bookcase that hold 12 x 12 scrapbook cases and also refrigerator organizers for stamps and dies. Not pretty but it works. That bird stamp is my favorite!
Oh, goodness!! My craft space is shared with our guest bedroom and it’s always a hot mess!! The bed becomes my overflow area for the stamps and inks I’m rifling through to find exactly what I’m looking for! Somehow my glass craft mat is half covered along with the entire perimeter! Why do we do this to ourselves?? Whenever I start grumbling to myself about how little space I have, I try to remind myself that I’m blessed with all that I DO have!!
Thank you for sharing your gifts with us! Without inspiration us artist wannabe’s would be toast!
Oh, I’m just happy you didn’t ask for a picture of our craft rooms! Mine looks like a bomb exploded! I love the way you colored the nest with the colored pencils! Looking forward to the bunny video!
These birds and especially the blue eggs are mesmerizing! I LOVE your coloring! I also love the bookmarks you made! Great warm colors! My craft space is actually really organized! I cleaned it up yesterday and just have one slimline card that needs to be put together.
I wish my Studio was a mess! Instead everything is in clear plastic boxes until I can secure a whole room for my crafting. As it is now I have to go on a retreat (poor me) or to someones house. However, the older I get, the more I like to stay home and craft ( hence securing me a room). It’s underway but I loooove these stamps!!!! I love birds and scriptures. Please put my hat in the drawing. Thank you for the privilege
to enjoy all your scrumptious art!!!!
I am so impressed with this release. Sandy you are my inspiration. Your work on this release is amazing. The bunny is adorable and the robin and the nest! Oh my what can be said but amazing.
Wow! This is an Awe-mazing set of cards! I love your coloring, you do such wonderful work and every card is a marvelous piece of art. Thanks for the inspiration and opportunity to win.
Even on a good day my craft room is a mess. I know where everything is among the mess, but still a mess. Well, a local craft store is unfortunately feeling the effects of covid and closing. I went this weekend and went to look around even though we all know we have everything we need…lol. The numerous bags have now been added to the previous mess…ugh!!!
Oh, your birdies are marvelously colored…. I’m in awe. And, I’ll look forward to watching your bunny tutorial. As I looked around my craft room today, I wondered if there was a crafting phrase that would be equivalent to the culinary term “mise en place.” My space looks like a tornado hit it, which may be appropriate since I’m making a 4-drawer easel box using Colorado Craft Company’s Ruby Slippers. Thanks for the opportunity, Sandy!
How lovely to watch you bring to life your images.
Right now………most everything is put away except for projects I have for Easter are in small piles as I try to make a plan and to get the weekly cards done and mailed. At least nothing is in danger of avalanching to the floor right now. Got to watch were the waste baskets are placed. Lol! Thank for keeping us learning new things.
I wish I could be more organized. I have a guest room (murphy bed) / crafting room upstairs but unfortunately for the last 2 1/2 years I am mostly on the main level during the day (due to physical restrictions). I also have the problem with buying craft supplies ( lol). Thank you for showing us some of this new release.
I don’t have a studio! I have to get all my crafty stuff out of a large cupboard and use the dining table when I want to craft, then put it all away again before the next meal. It’s probably a good thing, because if it was left out in a room then I know my two little monkeys…I mean my lovely girls, would be in there playing with all my supplies unsupervised!!
Love this release and your creations! I am actually pretty organized ! I am using a few shelves in a room I hardly craft. I bring everything I need to the dining table ,which if we want to eat, I have to clean up, lol!!
I moved in October and my landlord agreed to let me rent an extra room off the garage for a craft room! I had to pay a little extra but I’m so grateful! I just cleaned up the chaos yesterday- that lasted a full 15 minutes!
I started in a portion of the family room. All the space on top and under the table has been taken up. There is only a small path around the table to a door or the light switch. It’s beginning to look like a hoarder’s space. (Maybe I am a hoarder).. in the last 3 years supplies have accumulated much faster than they’ve been used as I discover what form of artwork I like best for my cards. Your videos have given me so much inspiration and education! Anyway, every space on my table is cluttered up and encroaching on my media mat, there is a stack of stamp packages about to fall over on one side of my space – as soon as I finish Easter cards, those will be put away (stacked in a bin on the floor…somewhere) and we’ll make room for something else .
My craft space is in our kitchen dining area and isn’t too messy at the moment- I’ve mostly cleaned up from my last card, just before starting the next. Thanks for including us in your abundance.
Paper scraps everywhere. I haven’t cleared them off of my desk while trying to find just the right size for my card pieces.
My husband came up with the idea to make me a craft room. Best idea ever! First I had my stuff all over the place, now I have a dedicated and well organized space. I love it.
The bunny stamp is so cute. I am so excited to see your tutorial. My sister-in-law’s birthday is coming up and she loves bunnies, so this stamp would be perfect to make her a birthday card. Stamp is also perfect for Easter. Thank you Sally for your great tutorials!
Sorry, I don’t know why I called you Sally, while I know it is Sandy. Silly me!
Oh Sandy….my studio is still an embryo in my imagination. We have been building our own home for over a year. The actual process from seed to where we are now (drywalling) has taken 4 years. We are older and my husband moves slower than he did 2 decades ago..
My studio will live above the garage on the second floor someday….in the meantime, I dream, plan, work do my art at the dining room table.
As always, I love your cards.
My craft space:
I’ve had an intermittent love affair with crafting over a lifetime so I have a hodge-podge of supplies. I really started crafting again in 2019, which has been a sanity saver over the past year. I also moved house twice in the past year. So, now, I have a dedicated crafting room (yay) and it’s full of contradictions. I’m planning to put ikea shelves in the hanging space in the wardrobe (it’s always “next pay” then gets deferred). I have a kitchen dresser with leadlighting windows in there because it was in storage for 5 years then, when we bought our house, I couldn’t bear to part with it although it totally does NOT fit in the living/kitchen area. (Too many bookshelves down there I’m afraid). I have two of those big toolboxes on wheels that you find in actual workshops sitting in my craft room opposite the kitchen dresser and, tucked in the corner, I have a 2-wide ikea Kallax bookshelf. The tresletable that serves as my desk has what you’d expect on it: a combination of oft-used products, my media mat, items I haven’t put away, and items I just don’t know what to do with.
The floor is a problem: I attend craft classes so my bag is always there as are the things I’m trying to remember to put back into my bag for the next class. Also there are lots of odds and ends, folders of stuff and various things that just don’t have homes.
Part of the problem is I haven’t sorted everything into the dresser, the shelves and the toolboxes. I need labels for drawers and I need to sort things out.
I tend to avoid the room unless I’m actually crafting, which doesn’t help me get it sorted. Then I’ll go in there and have a burst of organising things that usually ends in me making something instead of finishing. The trestle table blocks access to the bookshelf and the lead is too short on my heat tool and weird things like that so figuring it all out is a work in progress.
My desk is a little messy right now because I’m working on a scrapbooking layout. But, overall, my craft room is always organized. I enjoyed your video! Thank you for a chance to win- I don’t have any Colorado Craft Co. stamps in my stash.
My desk is covered with stamps, dies, ink, my journaling Bible & my watercolor paints. A friend from church 3D printed an insert for me to make a travel palette for my housing vacation, & I’ll be filling it this afternoon.
Sweet of you to do the giveaway. Thank you so much!
Our smallest bedroom is now the computer/craft room. My husband converted the little closet into a built-in storage area and even added shelves on one wall for the wood-mounted stamps I’ve collected over the years. Today my table doubles at my work-from-home station, so I have a marker box (made by the hubby), work files, my Big Shot, work laptop, two tubs of stamping project pieces and my self-healing mat from one end to the other! I don’t often leave it messy, but when I do, the door gets closed and I can relax 🙂
My studio looks like a tornado went through! But it is spring break this week and getting some organizing done in my studio is on my to-do list.
My studio is just my bedroom, which is the only room in the house with natural light, and it is a disaster right now. I have not found a great way to organize everything I have so when I need to look for something, I have to rummage through everything before I find it. LOL! Thank you for this little giveaway.
-Shelly
My husband helped me get my studio organized yesterday. It was a big mess that felt insurmountable but with his help, it became a more doable task. There is still a lot of organization and tidying to do but the desk is now usable and the floor is clear of clutter and clean. Feeling very grateful to have this space. I will keep improving it a little at a time each day.
My studio is tiny and full because my husband wants to share it with me. Eek! I call it my studio and he calls it the office.
Great coloring of these gorgeous new stamp sets! I love Colorado Crafts stamps–the robins and nest are gorgeous. My craft room needs lots of attention. I had received my 2nd vaccine on Friday and also received two orders from 2 different crafting companies, including some Colorado craft stamp sets and an Amazon order of organizing products. All are plopped on my work table, along with the stamps/dies to be put away from my March cardmaking projects. There are tools, stamp sets and paper products scattered all over the floor around my table. Unfortunately I got the “vaccine reaction” and am not quite up to dealing with the clean up. Organizing and putting away new stuff is fun for me, but not enjoyable if your head is pounding. Despite having some not comfortable side effects, I’d do it over again and would not discourage anyone from getting the vaccine! Praise the Lord we have it!
I have a craft room with 2 desks. They need organized badly. . I like to craft at my kitchen table and watch TV or visit with my husband. I love your tutorials. You explain everything so it’s easy to understand. Thank you for all you do. Sincerely Rosslyn
Thank you for a chance to win. I use a table in my kitchen or living room, and my supplies are strewn all over a cart, and little piles, in my bedroom. I love your cards!! Michelle t