I saw this general card idea from Shannon Jaramillo a while back when I needed some inspiration for a card.  But as I usually do with cards, I took some of my favorite elements from the card, and then tweaked some of the other details to get to use some of my favorites too!

I wanted to focus on the cute kitty from the Pretty Kitty stamp set, and all of the images from that set are outline images – so they just BEG to be colored in!  And so I went with the easiest way to color, my Stampin’ Write markers.  These are Stampin’ Up’s markers and they have the exact same ink inside the barrel of the marker as there is in the ink pads.  So it makes them great to color with, since you know they will match your project.  In this case, however, I wanted to add the pops of color, so I used a variety of markers to fill in my flower pot.

Coloring Tips:

• Picking your paper – When coloring with markers, you aren’t getting your paper quite as wet as when you are watercoloring, so Whisper White is perfect for using with markers.  That way your colors are the truest to match the rest of your project.  You can color with markers on watercolor paper or other cardstock, basically anything that you can stamp on without it wiping off, you can color on.  So things like window sheets – not so much.
• Picking your stamped image ink – Again, since your project doesn’t get as wet, you can use most inks.  However, keep in mind that if you are using dye-based ink (so basically any of the standard color pads from Stampin’ Up), that your markers are the same dye-based ink, so they can smear a bit if you aren’t paying attention.  I find that Stazon, Memento, or Archival Black or Gray ink work best.  Because these are hybrid (or alcohol based in the case of Stazon) inks, they can hold up to the dye-inks without trying to mix in.
• Picking your marker tip – The Stampin’ Up markers have a pen tip on one side and a brush tip on the other.  I find that the brush tip gives the darker application of color (since more ink can come out) and tends to be a little bit smoother on large areas.  The pen tip tends to come out a bit lighter and is great for precision work, highlighting, or when you want to write out a message.  So, in this card, I colored in the flowers with the pen tip and the pot with the brush tip.
• Make it art, not perfect! I purposely made the coloring streaky so that I didn’t have to worry about things being perfect.  Instead, I did everything a little bit scribbly with back and forth lines.  That way, if I didn’t get one area exactly perfect, it still matched with the rest of the coloring and it all looked designed instead of a mistake!  In wide open areas, you will find that your coloring looks the best if you can color with long strokes with the brush tip of the marker.

Once the coloring was done, then I used my Layering Ovals to cut out the kitty and backed it with a Real Red scalloped oval from the same die set.  See… I didn’t believe in the tiny scallops at first, but I’ve come to think they are just adorable!  Then I wanted to add a bit of my FAVORITE ribbon from the holiday catalog (grab it while you can and it’s 50% off!), the Stitched Edge Real Red ribbon.  A few more scallops never hurt anyone, right?

Then I just needed to add a sentiment and so a quick banner punched with the Banner Triple punch to get the perfect cutout at the end was all I needed!  The sentiment comes from the Pretty Kitty stamp set, so I had everything I needed!  Layer it all onto some of the polka dot paper from the Neutrals designer paper stack and some white and red cardstock and you end up with a pretty card with a pretty kitty.

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