Coloring Digital Stamps with Alcohol Markers

It is New Release Sunday over at Digistamps4Joy and so I thought, what would be a better time to try out my new alcohol markers with digital stamps? I will be using the brand new “Candy Kabobs” digital stamp set from Digistamps4Joy, but there are a lot more great new images that were released today, so make sure you head over and check them out. Also, it is the 15th which means you still have half a month left to enter one of your cards into the challenge. It is always an ANYTHING GOES challenge. You can also choose to add the optional twist, this month being adding ribbon, however, it’s not mandatory. Up for grabs are two prizes: a $10 gift voucher to the DS4J store (Do you know how many stamps that will buy you in the store? ALOT!!) and also one lucky person will get to choose two free images from the DS4J store!. Make sure to link up over on the blog!

I made a short video for you just to test out my new Dick Blick Studio Brush Markers with digital stamps. If you want to see my review on these markers head HERE.

Here’s the video. Enjoy!

This card was a VERY simple card to make. I really wanted to focus on the coloring and the stamps being the main focal point.

As usual with my digital stamps I started in Photoshop Elements. One of the reasons I really enjoy working with digital stamps is because of the resizing ability. If I want an image to fill an entire card front I have that option as well as making it incredibly small. I used all of the kabobs in the set and lined them up on a 4 1/2 x 5 1/2 inch blank file that was landscape orientation. I used one of the kabobs twice just to have five kabobs on my card front. I always think an odd number looks more pleasing to the eye, but that’s just my opinion.

With my card front laid out I could print the image off, with crop marks, using my Brother laser printer. I am not sure if alcohol based markers work with your ink jet printer, however, I do know they work with a laser. From what I’ve read online, the best advice I could find about ink jet printers and alcohol based markers is to test it. Some work and some don’t. Little tips I found were to let your ink dry completely, even taking your heat tool to it to help. Also, you could try spraying it with a fixative, but just be careful with damaging the nibs of your markers.

I trimmed out my card front using the crop marks that were printed off with the image and taped it down to a piece of hard board for a nice smooth coloring surface. Again, I used my Dick Blick Studio Brush markers to color my images. I tried using several of the same colors across the card to keep the images more cohesive. To finish off the coloring I used some grays to outline the images and really make them pop.

This set does come with a sentiment and I thought about printing it off also and foiling it. That would’ve been VERY pretty, but I had put a lot of time into the coloring so I decided on adding a small, long lined sentiment from the “Baked With Love” stamp set from Lawn Fawn. I stamped the sentiment onto a piece of black card stock that was 1/2″ wide using Versamark ink. Don’t forget to prep your card stock! After it was stamped (I used my MISTI, by the way) I sprinkled on some white embossing powder and heat set.

Then, with all of my components created, it was time to start putting them all together. I first adhered my colored panel to an A2 white side folding card base. This gives the illusion of a one layered card with no bleed through to the inside of the card. Finally, I cut a fishtail banner to the right of my sentiment and attached it to the middle-bottom left side of the card. I thought about adding some sequins, which if would’ve been very pretty, but again, decided against it as to not take any attention from the images.

I really wish I had a definitive answer about which printer would be the perfect printer to use with your alcohol markers, however, it all seems to be trial and error. I do know that my printer worked very well with my alcohol markers and I’ve linked it below in case you’re interested. It does go on sale quite often and a quick google search will help get the lowest price!

All of the other supplies I used on today’s card, along with the digital stamp, are linked up below for your convenience! Thanks so much for stopping by! Happy Crafting!!