I am still no expert when it comes to stamping, and like to keep things simple!  I had been wandering around the internet and saw someone using white embossing on white background, and I loved the results. So decided to have a play with my stamps.  White embossing can be used with the resist techniques see menu on the left.

Stamps
I think some stamps are more suited to this than others. You need one that you are going to completely colour around the embossing otherwise it won't show.  The great thing about embossing is it keeps your colours 'in' and in my opinion the easiest way to learn to colour images.  With the white powder you can get away with a few stray specks as well :)

Embossing 
So before I stamped, I used a piece of cotton wool dabbed in talcum powder, and brushed this over the card.  You can buy proper anti static bags. This will stop stray powder sticking on the card...where you don't want it!

I used a Versamark pad to stamp and then sprinkled on my white embossing powder, cover the image liberally - don't be mean you will put all the left overs back :) Then you need to shake off the excess, a light tap should sort it out, not too hard. I always have a fine dry paintbrush to hand so that I can remove any specks before I heat.  And don't forget to work over a clean piece of paper to capture your powder and pop it back in the bottle.  Then heat with a heat gun, or if you are just starting out holding it over a toaster or even trying a hot air paint stripper. Move your heat gun over your image once the powder starts to melt, do not over heat.

Once you have stamped and embossed your design, you can then colour it. 

Colours 
There are loads of different mediums that you can use to colour any stamped image.  I normally use water colour pencils, and then add water after I colour, but I felt this worked better with colour on my brush.

In the samples here I used a mix of Ranger Distress inks and felt pens.  I used both just because I didn't have a range of colours in either!  So to use the distress ink pads (or refills work well too) I smeared the ink pads onto a reusable baking sheet (mine were from Poundland).  I put a few different colours onto the sheet - making a 'paint palette' of colours. 

For the the felt pens I just scribbled on a smooth surface - I just used a cello bag that had white card inside, CDs, tiles, anything will do, just non-porous.

I use a very small amount of water, and just basically 'coloured in' the image. I try and keep the centre of the petals darker than the edges, but that is as far as my artistic talents go I am afraid! I do use water colour brushes with reservoirs, which I find get better after a bit of use, as they do not seem to flow as freely as when they are brand new, and end up a bit wet at times. ,Kitchen roll on hand is a good idea.   But a paintbrush and pot of water is fine, just be careful not to spill it!

Lavender
I always work on scrap paper and 'paint' some of the colour on there just to see how it will look before I put it onto my image.

As you can see above I painted all the way to the edge of the image and trimmed it off once it was dry.  I then mounted it onto thicker card using double sided tape.


A bouquet of flowers set this one off and was posted off to my Mum.

Well I hope that you have enjoyed this, I still have a few more to make and will add them when I am done.

Happy Birthday
And here is one with just white embossed greetings