Black & White & Red all Over

I love the colour combination of black, white and red. It seems so strong and it really catches my eye.

Today, I used the negative background of the card I posted yesterday: Fired Brick, Dusty Concord & Retro Circles Embossing Folder. I had been getting back into the groove by working off of sketches, but this time it just kind of came together on its own. Not to say that I didn't struggle, but I had an idea in my head and then just went for it.

I cut the flowers using one of my backgrounds (I think from the left over scrap from yesterday's card) using my Tim Holtz die. But they were lacking some punch, so I stamped on them and added the black brad. I was getting somewhere. Then I put them on little red squares to make them stand out. I cut the background to fit and then matted it with a very thin black border. I tried putting that directly on the red card but it didn't pop enough, so I added a white background, but that was boring. Remembering my newfound love for black, I stamped a black background. I used the same background stamp from "I See Paris" that I used yesterday. I love how it's a nice background (and big), but not too cluttered. Then I tried stamping a saying in Fired Brick at the bottom. You can't really read it,but it added to the depth, so I just left it.

Happy Birthday Colleen

It certainly is the little things that make life big. This simple little card is a tribute to my friend, Colleen. She was over the other day and I was showing her the fun foam embossing folder technique and she told me to do one with red and purple. I was skeptical as it's not a combination that I've used before, but I love it. The background was done with Fired Brick and Dusty Concord Distress inks and the Retro Circles embossing folder by Tim Holtz.

I cut the background down to 4x4" and put it on the card. Then I stared at it because I didn't know what else to do. I was working off another sketch and so I cut the white and red paper, but didn't know what to do with it. So, I just started looking through my Tim Holtz sets until I found something that would fit. I placed it over top of the background, but the empty purple spot was bothering me, so I took one of the stamps from "I See Paris" (one of my favorite stamps) and stamped it in black. Normally, I like a more subtle background for something like that, but I quite like how it turned out. Then I just added a little embellishment and I was done.

I've been using black more on my cards lately and I really like it. I used to think it was too bold and I tended to stick to my other colours, but for now, the black is working for me.

So, this card is for Colleen. Happy Birthday!