Supply Challenge - Chalk!

My supply challenge today centers around a medium that at one time I used almost daily...that is until Distress Inks came out. After that my chalks were doomed to live in isolation at the bottom of my "go to" basket of supplies.

As you can see I have a nice selection...

Several years ago I was into scrapbooking swaps pretty heavily. Chalk was a mainstay especially in paper piecing and punchie art swaps. Of course, as I mentioned above, after I got my hands on my first Distress Ink pad I really haven't used them since. So they were a logical choice when I decided to use up some goodies from the past.

I don't really have a favorite brand of chalk as you can tell...I used whatever I could get my hands on. I was more interested in colors than brand. I use a variety of little tools to apply the chalk. Mostly I use the little pom-pom balls ~ not the chalk type...the kind you find in the general craft section (way cheaper!), the mini make-up sticks that have the foam tips, q-tips or cotton balls.

The biggest problem I have with using chalks is myself...I'm a messy crafter so I'm always getting chalk where it shouldn't be. If you have the same problem I suggest having a white eraser on hand. They make special "chalk" erasers but I think that's just so they can charge you more ;) I use a plain old white eraser from the office supply store and it works just fine.

Normally you don't need anything to set the chalk but I know some people insist that you should use hair spray but I never do. I did try to squirt a few different things on the chalks last night when I was experimenting to see if I could achieve a different look but nothing much phased it. I used Ink Refresher, Stamp Cleaner, Fixative, Water and more. Nothing much effected it but I did notice that the Ink Refresher did seem to brighten the chalks intensity. An interesting side effect that I wasn't expecting! Just something to keep in mind if you'd like a brighter image.

So here is what I came up with....

Birthday Wishes

Stamps - All images/sentiment are Inkadinkado

and

Purple Passion - Thank You

Stamp - Rubber Stampede by Delta

I have to admit once I dug them out and started playing with them I remembered how much fun I had using chalks. Yes, I got chalk all over...my hands, table, cloths, cardstock but it was worth it! I think the cards turned out pretty cool and I guess the most important thing is I enjoyed myself!

So now it's your turn...

pull out your chalks

~ even if it's just a small set ~

and have some fun!

I think you'll be pleasantly surprised once you get into it!