Chalks are Cheap! Chalks are Versatile! Yay for Chalk!

Hi friends! In today’s stamp school tutorial I am going to share some ways to use chalk on your cards!

You can use chalk pastels, decorator chalk (the chalk in little cakes like I am using today) or even eyeshadow! Watch the video to see how!

The stamp I am using is from our sponsor Art Neko, mention “thefrugalcrafter” to get 10% off your order or free shipping on orders over $50, whichever is greater.

Supplies:

• Stamps (Art Neko) Eiffel Tower Grunge single stamp or available in the Springtime in Paris set
• White cardstock
• Chalk (pastels, decorator chalk or powder eyeshadow will all work)
• Cotton swabs or pom-poms (for applicators)
• Paper towel or tissue
• Ribbon
• Adhesive
• Script embossing folder (Sizzix)

Directions:
1. Cut standard cardstock to 5 1/2″x8 1/2″ and fold 2 1/8″ from each side to create a gate-fold card.
2. Emboss two 2″x5 1/4″ panels of white cardstock using an embossing folder. Rub chalk on the embossed panels to color. adhere panels to gate-fold flaps.
3. Stamp the Paris collage stamp on the remaining cardstock with clear ink and dab with chalk, then rub over with a paper towel to lock in the color. Trim or die cut the panel as desired.
4. Wrap ribbon around the closed gate-fold card and tie in a bow.
5. Adhere stamped panel to one side of the gate-fold only so it will open.

Lastly tonight I wanted to send out love and good wishes to my friends Audrey and Moya who just got married on Saturday. I was honored to attend their wedding and I wish them all the best! That’s what the card was white and romantic like LOL:) Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

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!

The Softer Side of Stamping…

 Boy, after weeks of rain we are being spoiled by wonderful warm sunny weather. That means more time outside and less time in my dungeon of a basement craftroom. Still, I need my daily crafting fix so I took a few minutes…7 to be exact and made this card and video so you can see how easy it is to squeeze a few minutes of stamping time in daily during the busy summer months.

Stamps: Large Butterfly, swirls (Tattered Angels), Text background (Stampfrancisco), Frame, sentiment, small butterfly (Papertrey ink)

 This card only uses a few supplies, a half a sheet of cardstock, chalk pastels (AKA decorators chalk) and a couple of colors of ink, some stamps and a clear embossing ink pad or glycerin. See how easy it is to use clear ink and chalk to make the above card:

This card qualifies for the following challenges:  Cheerful Stamp Pad , DDH Challenges, Cards For Men, Incy Wincy Designs, KB Cute Monday , Make it Monday, Stamp with Fun, Stamps & Fun = Creativity, The Outlawz , Dream Valley Challenges, Allsorts, 2 Sisters, Inspire Me Fridays, and Flutterby Wednesdays

Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!