I love to color Power Poppy digital stamps with Copic Markers and colored pencils. But I’m a coloring instructor so I draw and color daily. Your hobby is my day job.

My hobby? I l bake bread. I’m nerdy, so when I bake bread, I geek-out. Old recipes, odd ingredients... I’ve even cultured my own yeast. I enjoy baking the same way you enjoy coloring. It’s relaxing fun.

But here’s the difference: when I make bread, I don’t staple the recipe to every single slice. I don’t announce with a bullhorn “Hey everybody, before you take a bite of my bread, please note that I used Gold Medal Flour and Morton's Salt!”

But in coloring? You advertise your supplies all the time.

And you don’t even realize it.

I love to color big projects using Copic Markers and colored pencils. This is what I call Artistic Coloring and it’s extremely rewarding.

But what I notice when I first introduce students to oversized projects is oversized nervousness.

“Oh my gosh, it’s gigantic! How am I supposed to color all that space? This will take forever!”

Relax, artistic coloring does require more time than quick and easy card fronts. But that’s not a bad thing!

Want to add more life to your coloring projects?

When people first start coloring polymer, rubber, or digital stamps with Copic Markers or colored pencils, they often focus on color. Which marker colors should I buy? Which pencil colors should I use?

Color-color-color.

Later, as we build up a pretty good color collection, the focus shifts to blending. What color blend should I use on the bow? What color blend should I use for the snow?

And there’s the catch, even though you’re thinking about blending technique, it’s still all about the color-color-color…