Colored images.....

I'm glad you all have been enjoying my tips on mass producing cards. Today's tips are for stocking up on colored images. Lots of us LOVE to color images but lots of us don't because it takes up too much time. If you break the process into several steps, it will be much easier.

Here's what I do: Stamp images in black onto scrap pieces of cardstock. For these samples, I used Bella images. Next I cut a full sheet of patterned paper into 4" x 4" pieces. You can get 9 pieces out of one sheet of 12" x 12" cardstock. I then match up a piece of the patterned paper with each image. This will dictate the colors I will use when coloring the images, and in turn takes the guess work out of matching up my colored images to patterned paper later on. I pack up these images and whatever coloring medium I want to use in a little tote. I take this tote with me when I sub, or to soccer practice, dental appointments, etc and just color them when I have time.

Then when the mood strikes, I take out these colored images and create cards. There's not a lot of thinking involved because the images are colored, the patterned paper is already picked out. I created these three *think thin* cards in about 15 minutes. I just pulled out some matching ribbon, brads and solid cardstock and I was good to go. I even had time to add some other embellishments like piercing, the prima flower and glitter to the bathing suit.

Tip of the day: Don't you hate it when you make smudges on your nice colored image or color outside the lines? Don't throw it away! Get out your white gel pen...I like SU!'s......and simply color over the smudge. I have saved many a card by doing this. Or you could always cover a smudge up with an embellishment like the Prima flower I used on these cards. And another favorite cover up of mine is to use the air art tool and marker. Simple spritz on color over the smudges. Presto!