My dad’s 78th birthday was on September 11. It was tough for him the first few years after 9/11 feeling like it was ok to celebrate his birthday on a day so fraught with sorrow. I reminded him though that his birthday came first and had for many years. I wanted to make a card for him that would be special, because he is special.
I used a new Christmas Stamp set in a non-Christmas kind of way. I thought the cardinal and the branch were beautiful and figured I could find a way to use it outside of just for a Holiday card.
Tips and Techniques
I stamped my card on watercolor paper using black Stazon. I will admit that I tried several other methods to color this image but I wasn’t happy with them. Straight watercolor was too pale and straight markers didn’t blend well. I could have used my blendabilities but I really was going for a watercolor look, not a colored look. I then used my aqua painter, but not filled with water, instead I filled it with rubbing alcohol but used it just like an aqua painter. I dipped the brush onto the ink pad lids with ink in 
them and brushed onto the paper. the result is a more vibrant rich color with a watercolor feel.
Frame – I used two of the square framelits to create a frame that was just slightly smaller than the actual image. You can see in places where the coloring shows outside the frame. That really was intentional. I like the look of it highlighting a portion of the card front rather than all of it.
I carried the theme into the inside with the single branch. Final details include the red berries pearls colored with my cherry cobbler blendability marker.
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Lynn
Beautiful card! I love everything about it!
Lynn this is a neat card. At first glance I thought the cardinal was stamped on a square and sitting in front / on top of the lost lagoon layer. Then I realized that you literally made a frame. That’s cool! The pearls on the branches add such a nice touch.
Beautiful design and very well executed, too! I love cardinals – the state bird of Virginia and a bunch of other states, I think!
This is a beautiful card. Thanks for the tips on how you watercolored it. You did a great job of coloring it. I like that you showed us what you did on the inside. Have a great weekend.
Lovely card – thanks for inspiring me to use it outside of a holiday card.
Love the look of this card, the water coloring makes the card. Great job, TFS.