Tutorial: Using Chalk Pastels to Stamp!

Howdy folks! My crafty mojo made an appearance today while I was playing with my chalk pastels.

It got me to thinking, chalk ink is expensive but you can get  set of student grade chalk (aka soft) pastels at the craft store for cheap (48 for $10) so I used said cheap pastels to stamp with, have a look:

Extra bonus, this is a technique that I would use the expensive inktense blocks with and the pastels work just as well and they are more in the price range of average crafters. What’s more most of us have some type of pastel or decorator chalk in our stash from 10 years ago when it was all the rage (yes, if you can pop those suckers out of the palette they came in you can use them!)

I love that you can stamp on dark-colored cardstock with these too! Is there no end to the fun we can have with these inexpensive goodies? Now, I got a lot of questions on YouTube about whether the stamped image needs to be sealed. Well, before I took the photos I rubbed may hand over the images, no smudging at all. Another reason I would not seal them is that it might darken the color or make them disappear on dark cardstock, also sometimes fixatives will make paper brittle over time (especially if you are a cheap skate like me and use Aqua-Net as a sealer LOL!)

So there you have it! Another use for an old product you probably already have, if not you can obtain them cheaply. I spied many sets that looked pretty good for under $10 at my local ACmoore. Look for rich, vivid colors and you can’t go wrong. In case you are wondering if you should spend big bucks on artist grade pastels ask yourself this: Are you going to paint a picture with them? Do you have children who will share them with you? Do you have proper ventilation? I love artist grade pastels and I paint with them. The colors will last longer because they contain pigments, some of which are toxic such as cobalt, cadmium, and other baddies and you shouldn’t breathe the dust. You don’t have to worry so much about student grade products because they are non-toxic, I don’t recommended breathing the dust on purpose or anything but they are a lot safer and the results will still be lovely. Chances are if you are using them in a scrapbook, journal or card they will not be hanging in direct sunlight for an extended period of time either, the cheap stuff is fine for this, BTW all of the chalk in the scrapbook “archival” aisle is the cheap stuff with a bigger price tag. You’re welcome.  I hope this project unleashed some creativity in you today, feel free to share what you have created by leaving a link in the comments, I’d love to see! Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!