Follow new tutorial writer Bonnie Szwalkiewicz's step by step instructions for a special card suitable for any occasion.

Cardstock

Paper cutter with scoring tool

Adhesive

Embellishments

Q: Mary asked: "Was wondering if I could get suggestions on how to color the "naked" grey chipboard to suit my needs? I tried to use pigment pads but it takes forever to dry. Even using the heat gun didn't help. I tried using my Copic airbrush system, but being that it started out greyish, the colors turned out funny. Help!"

A: Have you tried clear embossing your chipboard after applying pigment ink? That should help with the drying time and give you a better color, especially for lighter colored pigment inks. Darker colors should be alright without having a clear embossed coat.

For coloring chipboard with Copics, apply a thin layer of gesso before adding your color with the air brush system.

Another option is to use craft paint from a hobby store. It generally dries fast and will be true to the color from the bottle.

We have a few tutorials in our resource section showing different ways to cover chipboard:
Chipboard with Craft ink
Chipboard with Patterned Paper
Chipboard with Flower Soft

K. Calkins has a suggestion for the Decoder Card tutorial: "When I was teaching kindergarten, the students had this type of hidden letter activities in their workbooks. We used red acetate instead of red cellophane to read the letters. It has more body and worked great."

Decoder Card tutorial
Decoder Card gallery

No special supplies are needed for next week's tutorial.