Creating a Card with Blue Knight Stamps and PanPastel Palettes

Hello my crafty and creative friends!

If you've found your way to my blog via the Blue Knight Stamps blog...thanks for visiting today.
If you're a subscriber and/or regular visitor to my blog, thank you, as always...for liking my cards enough to visit time and time again!

I've got a great little quick-and-easy-card to share with you today, created with the TALL CASTLE SCENE and FOREVER AFTER stamp sets. All of the coloring was done with PanPastels.
(*With the exception of the castle's tower flag, which was colored with a Copic marker.)

I have so say...I really wish that I had put together a video to share with you as I colored and created this card.
You'd have been amazed at how quickly this card was stamped..colored and put together.
The coloring was literally a 8-10 minute process with my Blue Knight Select PanPastel Palettes.
Add a few more minutes (10 max) to create the sentiment piece and to choose and cut the matting layers...and 3 minutes to zip along with my ATG gun and some Scor-Tape...and in about half an hour (probably less)...this card was created....from start to finish!


There were a few thoughts and ideas that I had when I sat down to create a card....
1. I wanted to use the Tall Castle Scene stamp...the very first Blue Knight stamp that I ever owned....given to me by a friend who fell in love with Blue Knight Rubber stamp at a stamp show many moons ago.

2. I wanted to use my Blue Knight PanPastel color palettes to color the image...BUT, I wanted to not use the colors straight up in their pure color format...I wanted to blend colors to create new colors that would have a nostalgic overtone.

3. I wanted to apply the PanPastels in a way that would have the look...if even in a small way...to water coloring.


I kept these things in mind s I created the card...and this is what I wound up with....

I stamped the Tall Castle Scene image on a piece of Spectrum Noir Ultra Smooth card stock (my fave) using a stamp positioning tool....(I left the stamp in the tool after I stamped the image because I was going to need to use it again)....
I began coloring the image with an assortment of sponges and sponge tipped applicators.
I had success mixing and blending new colors (off image...on a separate piece of card stock) with the colors in the Blue Knight PanPastel palettes, and was able to create the colors that I had envisioned for this image.
After the image was colored...I put the colored piece back into the stamp positioning tool...in the same position it was the first time that I stamped it (before coloring)...
I stamped the castle image again...
Doing this gives fantastic results...making the image extra crisp and well defined.
(Yes...you can stamp OVER PanPastel coloring!!)
Next...
I colored a smaller separate piece of card stock for the sentiment.
When the castle and the sentiment were both complete (before matting). I sprayed each piece lightly with my trusty Nexxus Comb Thru Hairspray to seal and "fix"both pieces (to prevent the PanPastel coloring from smudging and smearing)
(I like using the Nexxus Hair Spray because most :fixative/sealant sprays have toxins and/or need to be sprayed outdoors)
Then...it was time to choose the metallic card stock for matting.
I chose matting colors that I felt went well with the colored image: Black metallic and a deep red metallic.

I cut all of the mat layers to size.....Matted the image and sentiment pieces using Scor-tape....(My fave whenever using metallic card stock because sometimes.., as much as I love ATG adhesive...Scor-tape just does a better job when it comes to metallic card stock)
I added fun foam to the back of the image piece.
Decided on where I would position each piece...
and put the card together.

You can see the dimension created with the layers of this card.
(Thank you fun foam!)

This was a fun card to create!
And in the end it turned out exactly as I envisioned it to be (in my crafty little head) when I first sat down to begin creating it.

I was happy to reunite with the Tall Castle Scene stamp...
It's been a while since I created a card with it....and it was a wonderful stamp choice for the type of card and color ideas that I had in mind!

You can find the Tall Castle Scene Stamp...the Forever After sentiment set...and all of the PanPastels HERE ...at the Blue Knight Stamps web store.

Thanks for visiting today
Wishing you a wonderfully creative day!
Michelle