I just love the detail in the Thomas Kinkade images and look forward to each release. I know that many people are intimidated by coloring these images but if you just take your time and build up the color, they really aren’t that hard. Honestly…it’s the less detailed images that provide more of a challenge for me. When I start coloring in a Thomas Kinkade image, I start with the lightest colors and then keep building up until I have the right look. In this particular design, I added in the lightest blues first for the sky and wate, then added in the pale greens and purples. To get a better sense of the overall scene, I usually color in the darker purple areas with my lightest purple marker, the darker greens with the lightest etc. This gets rid of that start white and building up the color with Copic markers always works really well for me.
Follow Your Bliss
The image is stamped on Simply Smooth White cardstock by Cornish Heritage Farms. The highest quality smooth cardstock gets the best impression and brings out the detail on these gorgeous stamps. I used to think white cardstock was white cardstock. It’s not. If you’re on a tight budget, use the less expensive cardstock to mat layers and create your card base while saving the Simply Smooth for stamping detailed images.
When stamping a sentiment onto patterned paper, I usually like to emboss it to make it stand out. To tie in the dark black, I used a black thread to stitch around the layers in this design. Of course, I also had black thread in the machine at the time and it also saved a step. I’ve never used black on a Kinkade before and I tell you…I was sweating a little as I didn’t want to start over on this design when I’d taken an hour to color it!
Quick Tip: To blend the sky colors together, I go over the area with my Brick White Copic marker. This way I don’t take away any color but still give it a natural looking blend.
Stamps: Golfer’s Paradise, Living Waters (Thomas Kinkade line) by Cornish Heritage Farms
Follow Your Bliss (Thomas Kinkade line) by Cornish Heritage Farms
Ink: Black Memento by Tsukineko
Paper: Simply Smooth White cardstock by CHF, purple cardstock by Prism, Kraft cardstock by Bazzill Basics, patterned paper by Basic Grey
Other: copic markers, ribbon by Creative Impressions, black embossing powder, sewing machine
Have a wonderful weekend and to all my Canadian friends…a safe and happy Victoria Day weekend,
