Coffee and Friends Birthday

Today I'm sharing a birthday card made for an old grade school friend of mine. She lives in a rural area, and she and her husband raise chickens as a hobby. So, when I saw a Just Write stamp with the most beautiful chicken (I have NO idea if it's a rooster or hen, okay?), I bought it with my friend in mind. Well, okay, I also thought it would make a really good home deco for MY kitchen / breakfast room area. Mine is still unmade but I did manage to make hers.

This is a scan of the card. It is 5.5 x 5.5 inches square. I used Bo Bunny Provence papers on the front and back, and the yellow shiny flowers are from my stash. I kept it simple because it had to be mailed and, let's face it, the star of the card is the stamped image.

Here is the stamp and I did use the bird colors as a guide for my own coloring. I went in a little different direction on the rest, as I needed to play off the red paper.

I decided to pull out my Distress Markers and I'm so glad I chose them. It seemed so easy to blend the wood background out, not too finely. I was also to get some good blending and color graduation on my bird. And using the Weathered Wood color to do the scroll at the bottom and inside the yellow oval --- ah, perfect color! Not too blue, not too gray...Weathered!

When I do my home deco, I'm wanting to try dry-collaging or decoupaging my stamped and colored image onto either a hardback book cover or into a wooden cigar box top, then adding some dimensional elements (flowers, lace, etc.). Even if I only recreate this, that'll work!

I'll leave you with a snap of these pretties at our back door:

Our magic orchid has 9 blooms and counting. My new little terrarium of succulents was a homemade present from my daughter for Mother's Day. It's so cute!

Thanks for coming by and sayin' Hey! I hope you are having a great week and are able to get outside in the sunshine for a bit. xoxo