Elaineabella here, in a sort of contemplative mood! I’m still in a bit of a funk, pulling together my samples and other behind the scenes stuff for the next Stamping Bella release, and trying to do a little creative jumpstarting on myself in-between it all. It just so happens that colouring can be a very good activity both to help keep your creative toe in the water, and to give your hands something to do while your brain picks over everything. I can recommend it!

Today I thought I’d open up a discussion with you about how we approach colouring. As with so many things, there is no one right or wrong way, and it very much depends on the individual, our preferences and also on what we’re hoping to achieve as an end result.

I’ve always been envious of card-makers that have the ability to mix and match patterned papers to create a perfectly coordinated yet still home-spun effect. Even more of the card-makers out there that manage to create a perfectly coordinated coloured image to go with the papers. It gives me a warm, cosy feeling looking at the photos of their cards and projects. Let’s not get started on the card-makers that also manage to create perfectly staged photographs to show off their cards. The green-eyed monster may break free! Just kidding – I love seeing their creations, and their beautiful photographs, and I’ve accepted that it just isn’t me.

I’m an impatient, fidgety creator that has an abundance of ideas and nowhere near enough energy to execute even a fraction of them. I get an itch to colour something, and want to sit and colour it, not sit and plan the perfect card. I grab my stuff, go with colours that come to me as I look at the image, and then work out the details later. I used to regret this every time I sat down to make a card with my coloured images, resolving to take a different approach next time, to be “better”. Sometimes I would actually try, only to find that the process sucked all of the joy out of it for me. Now, instead of trying to force myself to be someone else, I go with it. I don’t buy endless pads of pretty papers that make me feel bad when none of them match my colouring (I have a small collection of paper pads, and allow myself to feel like the planets have aligned when they match). Instead I keep things simple, and use neutrals, or use my Copics or Distress Ink/Distress Oxide collection to create coordinating coloured layers.

Over the weekend I felt the itch to colour one of my favourite Tiny Townies – Tiny Townie Hattie loves Halloween. I stamped her up, grabbed my coloured pencils and headed for the dining table for some relaxing colouring fun.

Hattie was stamped on hot pressed watercolour paper, then coloured using Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils with Winsor & Newton Sansodor blending solution.

Little Hattie is such a cute witch. She may have turned out a little Hermione Grainger-ish, because I’m currently listening to the Harry Potter audiobooks while colouring (again). Not that Hermione would be found riding a broom…

In fact, this isn’t the first time I’ve coloured Hattie using pencils. Here’s one from last year, equally unplanned, just an experiment playing with pencils on toned tan paper.

Both versions of Hattie will make it on to a card soon, in spite of the fact that I had no plan when colouring her, no papers in mind. Just me, flying by the seat of my pants as always, and that’s okay!

Now, I’d love to hear from you! How do you approach colouring? Do you get stuck in, with no plan, or are you more meticulous? How do you feel about it?

~Elaineabella