Easter Friends Chicks

 Happy Easter! Today I am sharing a card I made using the chicks from the Easter Friends set. The first card is my own design, but it was inspired by the 2nd card which was CASED.

The sentiment was cut out using the Stitched Rectangle dies and the clouds were stamped and die cut with the Tulip Fields bundle.

For those of you who don't know, CASE means Copy And Share Everything. Generally, that's why we share things online. We hope to give inspiration to others and in turn we get inspiration from what we see online. It's so common that the acronym is now used as a verb. Sometimes demonstrators sell their designs or otherwise ask people not to copy their ideas, and of course, when that happens I don't. It is considered polite when CASE-ing projects to give credit. This card was CASED from Australian demonstrator Cheryl Hurst. My card is not an exact copy of hers, but it is very similar.

Colors used are Bermuda Bay, Melon Mambo, Gorgeous Grape, and Granny Apple Green. The clouds were stamped with Balmy Blue. The purple strip on the bottom card is actually Highland Heather. It was going to be Gorgeous Grape to match the stamping, but I grabbed the wrong color. Since I still like it, I didn't take the card apart to fix it.

I hope you have enjoyed these cards today and I hope you have a very Happy Easter.

Easter Friends Bunny Cards

 Today I am sharing an Easter card I made and also a variation of that card. We made this first card at my last stamp club. I stamped the bunny from Easter Friends on a Whisper White layer first. Then, before coloring the background, I masked the bunny so that he stayed white while the Balmy Blue and Granny Apple Green were applied with Blending Brushes. I left the mask on while I stamped the flowers from Painted Poppies. After removing the mask, I colored the flowers with Stampin' Write Markers, stamped the Happy Easter, and assembled the layers.

This second card was made nearly the same way with a few small changes. I used Watercolor Pencils to color the flowers and then went over them with an Aqua Painter to give the effect of watercolor. Because I had a more limited selection of colors in my Watercolor Pencil set I had to choose a different color for the background layer. The Daffodil Delight brightens it up and makes it pop, but I think I prefer the more pastel palette of the first card. Leave a comment and let me know which you like better. I chose to stamp "may your day blossom with joy and happiness" on the front because then I can use it for occasions other than Easter such as a birthday or thinking of you. I could also put a Congratulations there and use it for a retirement card. I like the symbolism of Spring being the start of new life and retirement being a the start of a new phase of life for the retiree.

I hope you've enjoyed today's cards. As I said, with a change in sentiment, this card can be for more than Easter. This bunny would also make some very cute baby cards. Remember, just because a stamp set is geared towards a certain holiday, it doesn't mean those stamps have to be limited to that holiday. Branch out and give your stamps extra life.

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