Happiest of Birthdays to You!

Hey Stampers!
I thought I would go back to the number one reason to send a card to someone in today's post... BIRTHDAYS!  It's always someone's birthday and how great is it to have a stash of homemade cards to help them celebrate!  I recently took a new look at an older set, "Birthday Blooms". This caught my attention because of the new alcohol markers we have, the "Blends". I thought this stamp set would lend itself to coloring really well and I was right!

The first card I have for you was a bit of an experiment. I heat embossed on vellum with black embossing powder. I then colored the images with the Blends, only on the reverse side of the vellum. I was hoping for a bit more subtle look. I used the Rich Razzleberry markers and the color was muted enough that it actually coordinated with the Sweet Sugarplum color, so I grabbed some of that for my background. What do you think?

For the next one, I stamped the floral image with Momento Ink on Whisper White card stock and colored it with the Blends, trying to incorporate more blending and coloring.

For the last card, I decided to keep it simple and not color, but just stamp.  This was just as fun but has a whole different look to it. You'll see I actually stamped right on the Designer Series Paper, using the "Coffee Cafe" set of paper.

I think all of these ideas work really well with this floral set. Any of them could be adapted to another color scheme as well. I always like to sneak in some Designer Series Paper in my cards if I can as that brings out my favorite design element... COLOR!

If you haven't done so recently, take a look through your stamp sets and see which ones have large open areas suitable for coloring. You might be surprised and realize there is even more to love in your stash!  If you haven't purchased the Blends yet, jump on board. They are wonderful coloring tools that give you hours of coloring pleasure. They can be used in adult coloring books or your own creative projects.

We are now into February, the middle of the Sale-A-Bration celebration promotion. New freebies are coming up on February 16th and all the current ones will still be available.  Start your wish lists now and don't forget to stock up on staples. When's the last time you took an inventory of your card stock, adhesives, ink refills, etc?  All those are great things to get during this 3 month long promotion. Contact me with any questions and I'll point you in the right direction!

Have a wonderfully creative day!
Sarah