Overcoming Crafter’s Block
I am comfortable incorporating a number of stamping techniques in my scrapbooking. Coloring with markers? No problem. Embossing? Love it. Watercoloring? Um . . . not so much. I will go to crazy lengths to avoid it.
Then I decided to scrapbook some photos of my tulips. No problem, right? Not until I started looking at my stamp options and determined that the Fabulous Florets Stamp Set was the best complement to the pictures. I told myself I could just stamp the images with a single color and the flowers would look great. So I pulled out the Calypso Coral and Daffodil Delight Classic Stampin’ Pads and stamped up a garden. The Daffodil Delight flowers weren’t dark enough to stand out on the Designer Series Paper, so I stuck with Calypso Coral—and decided it still looked too plain.
Which meant I needed to do some watercoloring.
I started with an Aqua Painter, but since I wasn’t adding any additional ink, the result was barely noticeable. So I switched to Blender Pens and started adding more color. That was more like it. I took my watercolored flowers back to my desk and started working with them. Nice, but they needed something more. So I stamped new flowers with StazOn ink so the edges would be more distinct and began the watercoloring process again. Here’s how they turned out.
I wouldn’t call myself a watercoloring pro (far from it), but I like the way these look. It was fun to make some of the flowers more yellow, some more coral, and some a good mix of both. I told myself they didn’t have to be perfect and each flower would be as unique as the ones in my garden.
Maybe next time I won’t be intimidated if a project calls for watercoloring. And the good news is I’ll get better each time I practice.
Do any stamping techniques intimidate you? How do you overcome crafter’s block?
Alyssa H.
Senior Writer/Editor
Then I decided to scrapbook some photos of my tulips. No problem, right? Not until I started looking at my stamp options and determined that the Fabulous Florets Stamp Set was the best complement to the pictures. I told myself I could just stamp the images with a single color and the flowers would look great. So I pulled out the Calypso Coral and Daffodil Delight Classic Stampin’ Pads and stamped up a garden. The Daffodil Delight flowers weren’t dark enough to stand out on the Designer Series Paper, so I stuck with Calypso Coral—and decided it still looked too plain.
Which meant I needed to do some watercoloring.
I started with an Aqua Painter, but since I wasn’t adding any additional ink, the result was barely noticeable. So I switched to Blender Pens and started adding more color. That was more like it. I took my watercolored flowers back to my desk and started working with them. Nice, but they needed something more. So I stamped new flowers with StazOn ink so the edges would be more distinct and began the watercoloring process again. Here’s how they turned out.
I wouldn’t call myself a watercoloring pro (far from it), but I like the way these look. It was fun to make some of the flowers more yellow, some more coral, and some a good mix of both. I told myself they didn’t have to be perfect and each flower would be as unique as the ones in my garden.
Maybe next time I won’t be intimidated if a project calls for watercoloring. And the good news is I’ll get better each time I practice.
Do any stamping techniques intimidate you? How do you overcome crafter’s block?
Alyssa H.
Senior Writer/Editor
Comment today to ask how to get the supplies on how to do this!
