Meredith wants to know

About coloring with lid ink and coloring with reinkers.

Lid ink and blender pens: An old standby way of coloring that beginning stampers often learn first is using a blender pen and the lid ink. First, there are many blender pens out there, and I've tried several, I prefer the SU! blender pen, not because I'm a psuedo demo, but because it's the best one I've found; the tips stays in shape and it doesn't dry out too fast like some of the other brands out there.

So, Meredith, just squeeze your closed ink pad together, it will force a little puddle of ink onto the lid. Simply dip your blender pen into the lid ink and color away. Clean your blender pen after each color by swiping it gently on scrap paper until it runs clear before moving to a new color.

Reinkers and coloring is one of my favorite ways to paint images, the color is saturated and very easy to manipulate. I squeeze a drop of reinker onto a palette of sorts ( usually the Stamp A Majig Imaging Sheet, but any piece of plastic, acetate or even an inexpensive palette will work) and using a watercolor brush and a small dish of water, paint away, applying color by diluting with water or using full strength, depending on the look you are trying to achieve. For this technique it's best to use a watercolor paper or heavier weight card stock because of the water factor. A thin paper will warp or you might get pilling (is that a word?!) on the image.

For both applications, StazOn, Palette Noir or any other good waterproof black works best.

I hope this helps, Meredith.

Any time I see a question in a comment, I'll try and post my answer for you.

V.~