This post was sponsored by Simon Says Stamp. Thanks, Simon!
Hi friends! Do you ever feel inspired by a color combination and feel like it’s too good to only use it on one card? I have really been getting into “analogous” color palettes lately, meaning colors that are next to each other on the color wheel. Today’s color palette is one that I’ve used and loved before, featuring a crisp bright blue, pale mint, and soft jungle green to create a gender neutral-ish color palette, which when paired with the adorable new Celebrating You stamps and dies from the Simon Says Stamp Celebrate release, work smashingly to create some sweet birthday cards perfect for any person. Let’s get started with the details on my projects!
Both of my images from the Celebrating You set were stamped with Obsidian black pigment ink and embossed using clear embossing powder, which I think really enhances the crispness of the lines and brings out the sweet little details on the illustrations.
For my first project, I stamped the adorable little bear holding balloons from the Celebrating You set, selecting Copic markers that matched my chosen color palette perfectly, along with some pale gray markers and the colorless blender pen. This colorless blender is great for use to create “white” or super pale images, because you can add shading and shape to objects without much color using your light gray or violet marker, then smooth out the edges of the coloring with the colorless marker. It’s super subtle, but the little polar bear would be very flat indeed without any shadow or shape to him! After I had colored him and the balloon bouquet, I used the coordinating die to cut him out.
For my background, I wanted to create a flat shaker card with some fun embossed balloons. I started by trimming down a panel of Juniper cardstock to 3.75″ x 5″, then running that panel through my die cutting machine with the Party Balloons Embossing Folder. Next, I lightly blended the new Sky Pawsitively Saturated Ink around the edges of the embossed panel to add a little extra interest and to tie in the color scheme a bit more to the background. With some old stamp packaging, I created a cellophane pocket around my embossed balloon background, then filled it with the new Dusk embellishment mix, the iridescence of which beautifully highlights the blues and greens in the rest of the card’s color palette. After filling up my shaker pocket, I adhered the panel to the center of an A2 piece of Cobalt glitter cardstock, creating a sparkling frame around the edge of the shaker. I added the celebratory bear and coordinating sentiment directly on top of the shaker pouch, creating a super fun birthday card!
My second card is a bit more elegant, with lots of crisp white, textures, and pops of color. I am a double twin mom, so I am always on the lookout for ways that I can create “twin-themed” projects with stamps that are not necessarily meant to be used for twins. I thought that the pair of birthday unicorns from the Celebrating You set would make an absolutely perfect birthday card for a set of twins, maybe even for a first birthday! After coloring and die cutting the image in the sky blue, mint, and juniper color palette, I also ran a panel of white cardstock through my die cutting machine using the Party Balloons Embossing Folder. I die cut the A7 Nesting Frames dies from some shiny blue foil cardstock and selected the largest frame that would fit on my piece of embossed A2 cardstock, trimming the embossed panel down to fit inside the shiny frame.
To accent the textured balloon background and make the card a bit more overtly birthday themed, I die cut some floating balloons with the included single balloon die from the Party Balloons Embossing Folder. These balloons nestle in the embossing folder so that you can create more dimension on them, but I left them simply as die cuts. I added some super delicate silver thread to the back of each balloon, as well. I think the addition of this kind of little extra (somewhat fiddly) detail elevates the card a bit more!
For the greeting, I die cut the Boho Celebrate die from some more shiny blue foil cardstock and backed it with the vellum die cut shadow. I adhered the textured frame to my A7 card front, orienting it to the bottom left and building my scene on it. I popped up the unicorn pair, ballons, and the greeting with foam adhesive, tucking the threads from the balloons behind the unicorns. Finally, I added some coordinating Surf Pawsitively Dazzling Gems to the card front to add a bit more sparkle and texture!
Well, that’s all for my projects today. I am so in love with this color palette and just analogous color palettes in general. I think I will have to keep working with them! Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!
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