Craft Stamper Blog Hop - Looking Back

Welcome to this stop on the Craft Stamper Hop! If your visit isn’t related to the Hop then be sure to pop over to the Craft Stamper Blog to join in, as there are lots of prizes to be won and all the information about the blog hop and the events for the week! There is also a lot going on on the Craft Stamper Facebook Event page with flash giveaways!

For those of you who are visiting my blog for the first time I'm delighted that you're here and to my friends who visit often I thank you for your support as always. I'm delighted to be joining the Craft Stamper design team which is a dream come true and for those who don't already know I've been stamping for around five years and enjoy all kinds of stamps, my tastes are quite diverse, from the very cute to the very grungy and everything in between! I enjoy learning new techniques, experimenting with new products and the joys of just playing with stamps, inks, and paints, it's the best relaxation.

My project for the Hop is a concertina bound book and a card using 

Distress Ink Markers for the colouring which were my favourite new product from 2012 therefore my project is really all about the colouring.

The card base, front and back covers of the book and die cut Sizzix Framelits arches are stamped with stamps from the Penny Black T for transparent stamp set 'Petal Power' using Versafine Onyx Black ink which is my favourite for bringing out fine details of stamps and I know that it won't run or smudge when I watercolour.

I also stamped extra flowers and leaves to give a 3D effect to the focal flowers and these were coloured and cut out, glazed with watered down stickles glitter glue and then Ranger Distress Paint in  Rock Candy. Markers I used for the flower petals are Worn Lipstick, Spiced Marmalade, Mustard Seed and a bit of Barn door and Black Soot. The leaves and flower centres are coloured with Forest Moss, Mustard Seed and Crushed Olive. I coloured the backgrounds with a Stormy Sky marker.

I find the distress ink markers work well either direct to the paper or by scribbling them down onto a craft mat and picking up the colour with a brush but if I use the direct to paper method I need to be fairly quick with the brush to avoid harsh lines and I found that this happens more with the darker colours. Just the same as the Distress Ink Pads the marker colour can be reactivated when dry with water. The brush end of the marker is lovely to create more painterly colouring and the fine nib is excellent for colouring strands in hair, for doodling and writing as it's quite fine. My Distress Markers are one of my most used products, they're very easy and quick to use and versatile. I've found them great for all kinds of colouring situations and as I've shown here lovely for blending colours together on the flowers and leaves and also for the backgrounds around the flowers where I've simply block coloured and spritzed with opalite reinker mixed with water for a mottled look.

In order to complete the hop you need to collect a letter from each of the blog hop participants and the letter that you collect from me is....................'I'

Your next stop on the hop is with the lovely Chrissie Stokes at simply-one-of-a-kind.blogspot.co.ukhttp://simply-one-of-a-kind.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/craft-stamper-blog-hop.html and the great thing is you have all week to complete it. If you get stuck on the hop at any time, pop back to www.craftstamper.blogspot.com for the full list of participants and all the information. Have fun hopping!