Spectrum Noir Colorista Stamps and Sneak Peek

Show of hands for who’s jumped onto the adult coloring bandwagon?  A while back I was lamenting the fact that despite loving to color stamped images, I just couldn’t get into the books I found at craft stores or bookstores.  It seemed like most adult coloring books weren’t printed on the kind of paper that worked with any of my favorite coloring mediums and ended up being tedious to color.  The “research” told me I was supposed to be relaxing and instead, those books were driving me insane!

I swear I had no idea what Crafter’s Companion and Spectrum Noir had up their sleeve when I wrote those words…but if you felt the same way as I did about those books and really wanted to like the coloring craze, maybe the new Spectrum Noir Colorista line will be right for you.  At the end of this month, new markers, pencils, coloring books, and even card-making kits will be premiering on HSN…all meant to work together to give the results us cardmakers expect from our coloring!

For now, though, a handful of A2 card-sized background stamps created in that adult coloring book style are being released.  And that means we can stamp them in any ink and on any type of cardstock we’d like to color how we choose!  The design I used to create a pretty lid for this gift box is called “Fluttering By” – stamped once on teal cardstock for a tone-on-tone look and once on watercolor cardstock to pull the butterfly and flower images into the colorful foreground.

Heat-embossing the image in white on the watercolor cardstock makes it super easy to color with the Spectrum Noir Sparkle Pens.  Since I don’t love those tiny spaces, I choose a different color for each large section and shade within that, allowing the lines to create texture rather than dictate how I color.  Once colored, I fussycut the images and popped them up with foam tape on my gift box.

Here’s a sneak peek at one of the coloring books that will be available at the end of the month.  The cardstock (yes, cardstock!) that they are made of works beautifully for blending with alcohol markers…and if you like coloring in all of those tiny spaces, the new Colorista Pens will have fine and ultra-fine nibs!

One last thing – Crafter’s Companion will be offering a free online course all about adult coloring and taking those projects to the next level.  You can sign up here if you’re interested…hope to see you join in the fun!

Spectrum Noir Sparkle Pens used: Amethyst, Soft Jade, Rose Quartz, Emerald Green, Sterling Silver, Clear