Birthday Wishes Tutorial

First of all, I want to wish Cami (Turnbow) a VERY happy birthday! Today is her birthday and I'm SURE her email, blog & mailbox are overflowing with happy wishes, but I wanted to add mine to the pile. Cami is part of my up-up-up line and not only is she super talented and pretty, she is one of the nicest people you'll ever meet (plus, she shares my love for pink...one of the many things I like about Cami!). I'm sure it's already in your favorites, but here's a link to her blog so you can hop over and wish her a happy day (stampalittlelovebaby)! Cami, I hope all your birthday wishes come true!!! I used Jen's (ihearttostamp) sketch challenge for the layout...I love her sketches, they're so much fun!

This new Ginger Blossom DP has helped me so much with a few of the colors I've struggled with in the past (guava, river rock & cameo coral). Not only am I not avoiding those colors anymore, I'm really enjoying working with them! This card also gave me a chance to use my new Eastern Elegance Rub-Ons from SU. I'm just getting started with those...they're a lot of fun!

Next, a quick tutorial. I've had a few people aks how I've incorporated DP into my Happy Heart Day images. It's really very simple and once you see how this technique is done, you'll look at your stamps in a whole new way! I took a few photos as I was making this card to show you how it's done. Basically I stamp my images, in this case I did a little masking and placed the butterflies around the birthday sentiment. I decided to color in my butterflies, which you really don't have to do. I just did it because I was deciding as I went, about which wings to replace with DP and which ones to leave colored. Then I stamp my image onto DP and carefully cut out the wings. The most important tool for this technique is a nice sharp pair of paper scissors that can easily trim into tiny spaces. I used my SU Paper Snips...they make the trimming so, so easy!!!
Next, I just turned my wings over, added a little roll-on adhesive and covered the colored wing with a DP wing. Important little detail to keep in mind... although the wings look similar, there is a difference between the right and left wing, so you want to be aware of that when cutting and placing the wings. In the next picture you can see the first wing that I placed.

This last picture shows the completed image piece. I used my Sakura Clear Stardust pen to trace around all the wings and to add shimmery dots to the non-DP wings.

Another example, from a previous post of how I used DP to cover the heart with the Happy Heart Day Mouse, can be seen HERE.

One more thing I wanted to share with you. I found a relatively inexpensive natural light desk lamp today. So far, I'm very pleased. It's a Vison Max by Tensor. I found it at my local Walmart for $39.95. Not sure how much the replacement bulbs will be, but they are supposed to be long lasting and energy efficient...so hopefully I won't have to worry about that for a while. I tested it by taking a couple of photos under it and it was fantastic. True color. It tilts from the head as well as from the base and turns on and off with touch. Not bad for $39.95!! I find that generally, you get what you pay for, but in this case, so far, so good = )

Supplies used for this card~

Stamps: Happy Heart Day and Hugs & Wishes

Paper: Chocolate Chip, Cameo Coral, Shimmery White, Ginger Blossom DP

Ink: Timber Stazon

Accessories: Eastern Elegance rub-ons, Silver cord, Copic marker (R43), Sakura clear stardust pen, Fiskar scallop scissors, Paper piercer

Happy Tuesday = )