Seven Hills Crafts Blog: Intense Colors on Kraft Paper with Chalk Pastels

Hello crafty friends! Today I have a project for you featuring Stamping Bella's "I'll always have your back" with Carbothello pencils on kraft paper. I am enjoying my chalk pastels very much, and they are just fantastic on kraft because they get quite opaque with each layer.

The chalk is very soft so the tip of the pencil doesn't stay sharp for very long. When you try to get into small areas, or try to add fine detail, this can be tricky. One thing to keep in mind is that with this medium, you can actually add lighter color on top of darker color. That means that you should blend from light to dark because otherwise you'll end up covering up the dark with the light. Of course you can go back with the lighter color to smooth out transitions, though.

Since the chalk pastels become quite opaque with each layer, be careful with stamped lines you color over. You won't be able to avoid coloring over some of them, and I used a fine tip pen to draw some lines back in. Also, you can erase some of the color with a clean eraser if you color outside of the lines. Just make sure to clean off the eraser once an area picks up too much color so you won't smudge it around.

Another important aspect of this medium: you need to set it. I do it by spraying it with hair spray. If you spray it with water (as you might to with Perfect Pearls), these Carbothello chalk pastels will start running. If you don't do anything, you will smudge them eventually by just brushing over them. It's great if you still work and want to blend colors, but it's very depressing when that happens to a finished piece.

So, I hope you liked today's project and got inspired! If you would actually like to see the coloring process, hop on over to my blog (link in the sidebar) and watch the video!