Striking black 'Circle Circus' card

Pastel Chalks Technique

Black cards are very striking! But for some reason, they tend to be something people steer cleer of so I'd urge you to have a go today if you've never tried it - share with me what you make! This card was made at one of my Stampin' Up! training events with my team leader, Natalie O'Shea and it got us all trying the chalk pastels which was fun.

It's good to be challenged to use new products by taking classes with other crafters and so much fun not to be leading them for a change! So with this card we stamped four circles from the lovely 'Circle Circus' stamp set from Stampin' Up!. You get ten different patterned circles in this stamp set!

To stamp the circles onto black card we used the Versamark Stamp Pad which is effectively a sticky, clear ink pad. We then used 'Stampin Pastels' - which is a case of different coloured chalks and applicators. We rubbed the applicator into the chalk, then carefully ran it over the sticky images using different colours on different areas of the stamp. It gives a lovely finish. You can spray it with a finishing agent if you want to protect your finished image (or some cheap hairspray like we did in art classes back in school!).

The black card was mounted onto red and then blue card, some Old Olive green ribbon along the bottom with some 'brights' coloured buttons. Try it for yourself!