Blessing of Home Birthday

 Hey y'all.   It's official now.  I'm back on my "pastel" card kick again.  I just love the look of pastels and I keep heading in that direction.  I try hard to work with bright colors or the rich dark colors to appeal to others, but pastels are definitely my favorite.  And today's card certainly fits that category in spades!  Have a look...

It's pretty here in the picture, but in real life it's just simply gorgeous!  To keep the card from being too pastel, I started with a base of Basic Gray.  Dark, but not too overpowering.  This was cut to 11" x 4 1/4" to make a top fold card.

Next is a layer of the Friendly Hello Designer Series Paper that comes in a bundle with the Friendly Hello stamp set.  And yes, they are one of the free items in the Sale-a-bration catalog right now.  The prints and colors on this 12" x 12" set of papers are so pretty and I love them all.  (That doesn't happen very often, like almost never!)  

This card uses a pretty Pale Papaya and white print for the layer that is 5 1/4" x 4".  It's attached to the Basic Gray card base with adhesive.

The Basic White layer with all the stamping is cut at 4 1/2" x 3 1/4".  The larger floral image is from the Blessings of Home stamp set.  It was stamped on the white using Basic Gray ink to keep it softer looking.  I added color very sparingly with Stampin' Blends. Fresh Freesia L & D, Soft Succulent L, Pale Papaya L & D, So Saffron L & D, Pool Party L & D, Cinnamon Cider L, Pumpkin Pie L, and Highland Heather L. 

To get this look, keep the color to the shaded areas of the flowers and leaves.  The trick is to leave most of the areas clear of color.  I found this to be challenging, because I usually lay in the light colors and go back to shade with darker ones.  This is such a different coloring technique for me, but so fabulous looking!

After coloring, the white layer was attached to a Basic Gray layer cut at 4 5/8" x 3 3/8".  Used adhesive to attach.  This gives a very thin gray layer that frames the image nicely.  It was attached to the center of the card front using Dimensionals.

The sentiments both inside and outside for the card are from the Blessing of Home stamp set.  The front sentiment is stamped in Basic Gray ink onto a small strip of Basic White that was 1/2" wide.  After stamping, it was trimmed on the sides to 3 1/4" long.  This is layered onto a Basic Gray strip that was trimmed to 5/8" x 3 3/8".  It was adhered directly to the focal image at an angle using adhesive.

The inside has a 3/4" strip of the Pale Papaya print (that matches the front) attached to the right side of the Basic White layer.  The sentiment is stamped with Basic Gray ink.  It's attached to the card with adhesive.

Lastly, I felt the card needed some bling to enhance it.  There is a new rhinestone in the 2022 January - June Mini Catalog that's fabulous - the Iridescent Rhinestone Basic Jewels.  Totally awesome looking.  I put 1 large and 2 medium ones in the bottom corner.  Then I couldn't stop and added 2 small ones to the design too.  Oh, so lovely!!

Hope you enjoyed the technique I shared today.  I have no idea if there is a special name for it, but it is easy to do once you get the hang of not coloring in the whole image, just the shading.  Give it a try and let me know how it worked out for you.  Just leave me a comment!  I'd really love to hear from you.  

Keep stamping and creating!

Sharon