Color swatching is one of my favorite crafter’s tools and well worth the investment in time and effort! As my crafting stash has grown, my swatches have saved me lots of time and frustration. Here’s the best reasons, I take the time to swatch:

• Swatches give you a working inventory of your stash. No more buying duplicates!
• Swatches give a better representation of the real color of media. Often the color of an inkpad/media does not match the final dried color. Even better when you swatch on different types of paper.
• Swatches are more convenient for accurate color matching. Much easier to bring the swatches to your table than all your supplies.
• Swatches are useful in developing color combos.

For my swatching system, I use the swatching tools I designed for Waffle Flower Crafts. I created two systems: one for inks and one for other media. For my inks, I use the Inkpad Swatching Bundle which comes with stamps, dies, and a stencil. I like to keep both stamping swatches and blending swatches (because they do look different) and this bundle can be used for both.

For other types of media I have, I use the Supply Swatching Bundle which comes with stamps, dies, and a stencil to help you swatch a variety of craft media including:

• Alcohol Inks
• Pastes/Gels
• Paints
• Sprays
• Drops/Dots

Here’s some pictures of the swatching bundles in use. If you’re using any of these systems, I’d love to hear about it!