Embrace Birthday Wishes

Wow...two posts for you in one day???? Some people would speculate that my daughter sleeps too long....some people, not me. lol! I call myself a nap time stamper. I joke that her nap time is my lunch break...so I stamp most days on my lunch break. I really feel that I personally need that "creative outlet." I was a hairdresser for 12 years before I quit my job when my little one was born so I guess my job was my creative outlet then.....now I stamp and create. Oh well...enough about my lunch break, huh? On to the card!

I made this for today's online sketch challenge. I decided that I was hungry for my Embrace Life stamp set, it has been a few weeks since our last encounter. Today would remedy that, I decided. I reached for my packet of Ginger Blossom Designer Series Paper...you all know how I love that paper pack....and I told my self..."NO!....create with that set with colors that you usually don't use or that you don't usually use together." I like elegant eggplant but don't find myself using it very often, so today I pulled it out and it woudl be my card base. Ok, three decisions made...layout, stamps and card base color. So I went to work!

What do you think?

I will start with my main image panel. I took a piece of very vanilla and stamped the leaf branch in old olive and then took my aquapainter and "smeared" the ink a little to make it bleed to soften the starkness of the vanilla and old olive contrast. Can you see it in this picture?

I then pulled out old faithful Sincere Salutations. Would this be a get well card? a thinking of you? nah....I think I will do a Birthday Card. (these are the thoughts that swin around in my little head when I make a card or anything in papercrafting.) So I inked up my sentiment in elegant eggplant. I matted that onto pretty in pink.

Next for the blossom.....

I stamped it onto watercolor paper with black staz-on ink. I then watercolored it with my aquapainter and reinkers. If you aren't comfortable watercoloring or haven't done it....go and order yourself some stampin' up! watercolor paper and practice. It is only paper and ink after all...if you screw itup...try again. Don't even tell anybody....no one has to know.....it can be a secret. You know the old saying "what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas?" Well..."what happens at your stamping space stays at your stamping space!" Gee....I am really deviating from the task at hand, huh? Bear with me....I will get back on track. lol!

Any way, I watercolored this flower with the reinkers. The colors I used were: elegant eggplant, lavendar lace, pretty in pink and regal rose. I cut it out and mounted it on stampin dimensionals.

My side panel is old olive stamped with the leaf branch and "smeared" in the same manner as my main image. That was matted with very vanilla. I punched my photo corner punch twice with pretty in pink card stock and used the two smaller corners. I put the other two in my "extra punched shapes" jar on my shelf. I took the two smaller corners and sponged then with elegant eggplant before adhering them on my side panel.

The horizontal panel is lavendar lace sponged with elegant eggplant as well. I used my mat pack and piercer to line up my three pretty in pink brads from the soft subtle brad pack.

The card base was stamped with sanded background stamp and sponged on the edges with elegant eggplant.

I have to say that while I was working on this card...I was thinking to myself..."I don't know about this....these colors aren't really my comfort zone...." That's what creating is all about, right? expressing.....pushing.....exploring.....experimenting..... But I have to say that now it is done and I can sit back and look at it....it really isn't that bad. What do you think? Let me know below, leave your comment. I can take it ;)