How to Color the House-Mouse Party Parade Stamp with Copic Markers – Step-by-Step Birthday Card Tutorial

Hello there, Michelle Short here to share a step-by-step tutorial with you using the House-Mouse Party Parade Cling Stamp Set. This adorable stamp set is perfect for birthday cards, but any celebration would work too. I am colouring the image using Copic Markers, which are alcohol based, but any colouring medium will work here – pencils, paints, etc.

If you are a beginner colourist, this image is perfect for you, as the stamped image already has shading lines on it, so a lot of the work is already done by the stamp!

STAMPING THE IMAGE & SENTIMENT

1. Remove foam insert from Mini MISTI.
2. Place panel of white alcohol marker-friendly cardstock inside, line up with one of the corners (this is so that if you have to stamp the image twice, the cardstock will remain in the same place).
3. Place House-Mouse Party Parade mouse image stamp on top (do not worry about getting the image straight) with the red rubber side facing down.

4. Close door of Mini MISTI to stick the stamp to the door.

5. Ink up the stamp using Memento Tuxedo Black Ink (or other alcohol marker-friendly black ink).

6. Close door of Mini MISTI to transfer ink onto cardstock.

Depending on how well your ink pad is inked, you may need to repeat the process to stamp another layer of ink on top of the first one.

7. Remove stamp from Mini MISTI.

8. Remove cardstock panel from Mini MISTI.
9. Place second largest die from Nested Postage Labels & Tag Etched Dies onto panel, cut side down.
10. Hold in place with Best Ever Craft Tape.

11. Run through Platinum Six Die Cutting Machine using the following sandwich (bottom to top):

• A Platform Base
• B Platform Top
• C Cutting Plate
• Image panel with die on top
• C Cutting Plate

12. Place image panel back into Mini MISTI.
13. Place piece of plastic/acetate over the image.

14. Place sentiment where you want to stamp it.
15. Close door of Mini MISTI to pick up stamp.
16. Ink sentiment using Memento Tuxedo Black Ink.
17. Stamp onto plastic/acetate.

TIP: The purpose of stamping onto the plastic/acetate is so that you can see if you are stamping the sentiment straight and in the place that you want it to be. If you are not happy with the placement, you can clean off the plastic, reposition your stamp, and try again as many times as needed. This way, you are not ruining your panel if you stamp it wonky!

18. Once you are happy with the placement of the sentiment, remove the plastic, re-ink the sentiment stamp, and stamp down onto the cardstock panel.

COLOURING THE IMAGE

1. Add a dark shade of brown (Copic Marker E59) to where the darkest areas are on the largest mouse’s fur.

2. Add in a medium shade of brown (Copic Marker E57) next to the dark brown and bring it further into the fur.

3. Fill in the rest of the fur with a light shade of brown (Copic Marker E55).

TIP: Do not worry too much about blending the shades together, since fur is not supposed to be smooth anyway. However, I do go over some areas of the darker shade with the next shade to dry and blend them together slightly.

4. Add a dark cream (Copic Marker E53) shade to the darkest areas on the face, ears, back legs, front legs, tail and tummy.

5. Go over a little of the darker shade with a lighter cream shade (Copic Marker E51) to blend them together and then fill in more of the areas with this shade.

6. Fill in the rest of the areas with a light cream shade (Copic Marker E50).

7. Add a peach shade (Copic Marker R12) to the inside of the ears, as well as the tummy area.

8. Blend out and fill in the rest of the areas with a light peach shade (Copic Marker R01).

9. Repeat the same process as above for the smaller mice.

10. Colour over the ground using a warm grey shade (Copic Marker W3).

11. Add colour to the left-hand side of the largest mouse’s party hat using a dark pink shade (Copic Marker RV66).

12. Blend out and add medium pink shade (Copic Marker RV55) to the middle of the hat.

13. Blend and fill in the rest of the party hat with light shade of pink (Copic Marker RV52).

14. Repeat the process above to colour in the hats of the smaller mice.

TIP: There is a pattern on the hats, so you could add different colours to them, but for today, I decided to keep it simple and colour the whole hat one colour.

15. Colour the wind-up part of the party blower with the same three pink shades you used for the mouse’s hats.
16. Colour the plastic part of the party blower using two yellow shades (Copic Markers Y15 & Y11).

17. Add dark yellow shade (Copic Marker Y17) to the top of the balloon.

18. Blend and fill in more of the balloon using medium shade of yellow (Copic Marker Y15).

19. Blend and fill in the rest of the balloon with light shade of yellow (Copic Marker Y11).

20. Add dark pink shade (Copic Marker RV66) to the top of the balloon.

21. Blend and fill in more of the balloon using medium shade of pink (Copic Marker RV55).

22. Blend and fill in the rest of the balloon with light shade of pink (Copic Marker RV55).

23. Repeat the process to colour in the rest of the balloons.

TIP: Since the balloons overlap with each other and are meant to be transparent, pick colours that will blend nicely together. Here, the yellow and pink make a darker yellow/orange shade.

If you are unsure of what colours to pick for images or where the shading should be, refer to the stamp packaging. There is usually a coloured image on there that you can reference.

24. Cut strips of thin foam tape down using scissors.
25. Adhere to the back of the image panel.
26. Remove backings off foam tape.

27. Adhere to A2 (4 ¼” x 5 ½”) card base made from Orchid ColorWheel Cardstock.

28. Add Pink Color Essentials Gems to the top of the hats to finish.

If you feel intimidated by colouring with alcohol markers, I hope that I may have helped ease some of that for you by breaking down my process for colouring. I usually use three shades of one colour for each section, but you can reduce that to two. Do whatever you feel comfortable with and enjoy the process. Remember it is only paper; you can always start again if you need to!

Thank you so much for stopping by today. I hope you have a wonderful day!

Spellbinders Supplies:

Other Supplies

Alcohol marker-friendly white cardstock, Memento Tuxedo Black Ink, Copic Markers, thin foam tape.