Snail Mail

I am in love with the whole Snail Collection from Lelo Design.  The images are very cute, and very approachable in terms of coloring.  This stamp company is based out of Germany, and the owner Nancy, ships internationally. 

I colored up this image using my Caran D’Ache watercolor pencils.  They have a fantastic color selection, are rich and saturated, and disperse beautifully with water.  The great thing with watercolor pencils, is that you can use them dry or wet with some really neat effects.  I used quite a variety of colors for my little snail, but tried to keep him as subdued as possible.  I wanted subtle color shifts, rather then glaring ones. 

Cool Tip:  Want to get that cool pebbly ground look with your watercolor pencils?  Try dipping the tip of you watercolor pencil into water, then dotting it into a wet wash.  The colors will disperse on the edges, but will keep an intense core of rich color.  This is a fantastic way to add color variety and interest to your grounds.

Supplies:

• Stamps:  Snail Mail (Lelo Design), Postmarks (Papertrey)
• Ink:  Tumbled Glass, Vintage Photo Distress ink (Ranger inc), Black ink (Stewart Superior Hybrid)
• Coloring Medium:  Caran D’Ache Supracolor watercolor pencils
• Dies: Labels Eighteen (Spellbinder)
• Paper:  Basic Black, Poppy Parade CS (Stampin’Up!), It’s the Little Things collection (Fancy Pants)
• Other:  Gold leaf pen (Krylon), White Sharpie Poster Paint marker, Sakura Stardust pen, Black Bakers Twine, White Stampin’Up Button, Dimensionals, sponges, brushes, Stardust Stickles (Ranger inc)