I'm going to share a new way for coloring your artistic creations-PAN PASTELS. I have recently discovered them and cannot tell you how fun they are to use. They are a type of chalk (Pastel) that you apply with a sponge tipped applicator. The applicators have multiple sized/ shaped tips. They dry very fast and do not have to be sprayed to keep them from smearing or wiping away. Let get started with a quick tutorial, shall we?

Here is a look at the Pastels. They are very large and can be stacked or placed into this plastic tray. (They kinda remind me of  loose powder makeup containers.) You can see (kinda) the applicators in the black cup behind the pastels.

I wanted to make a moon as the center of this image so I punched a 2" circle out of scrap paper  and placed it in the center of my cut cardstock as a mask. I started with darker blue and  purple near the edge of the punched circle mask to start creating the night sky. I used the applicator and rubbed pastel colors in a circular pattern and blended as I went.

 When you achieve the look you want peel the circle up and place the reverse circle (the piece of scrap paper you punched your 2" circle from) over top to mask out the sky that you just chalked.

I used both a bright yellow and an orange yellow to chalk the details of the moon. Going darker (from outer edge) to lighter (inner edge).

Here is what it looks like when you are at this point.

Now you are ready to stamp. This technique works best with solid image stamps like this Stampin' Up! MIDNIGHT RAVEN #116529 single stamp. Use a bold dark color like Stampin' Up!'s BASIC BLACK CLASSIC INK #101179.

Here's what it looks like at this point.

I added some bats from Stampin Up!'s set WICKED COOL #120600 around the moon on both sides.I stamped some random tree branches.  I matted the image on navy and cajun cardstock. I added some retired Stampin' Up! buttons at the bottom.  

Viola!