Birds & Flowers Thank You Card

It is time for a Blends coloring project! I have been itching to color a larger image for some time. The stamp set Free As A Bird has a PERFECT large image to color, so that is what I did.

Blends colors used:

• Birds, branch - light and dark Crumb Cake, light Soft Suede Bird beaks - dark Crushed Curry
• Leaves - light and dark Granny Apple Green
• Flowers - RV52 (Copic - needed a very light RIch Razzleberry), light and dark Rich Razzleberry, light Blackberry Bliss
• Background - light and dark Seaside Spray, light Night Of Navy

There are two tips I have for coloring a larger image:

First and foremost be sure you extend your lights and darks as far as possible! If you only go two colors on a larger image it will look flat. Be sure to leave some parts of your image white for the lightest light. Note: I had to go to the light in a darker color family for the birds (Soft Suede), branch (Soft Suede), flowers (Blackberry Bliss) and background (Night Of Navy). Smaller images don't need as much depth to look good.

The secont tip is to make crisp edges. when cutting to the image edges (no white) take a black marker around the edges to remove any white, and if you plan to leave white and then color it, run your marker along the edge to remove all white, again to have a crisp clean look. This is my first time using Seaside Spray as a background and I find it partners well with light Night Of Navy. 

Often I will use white gel pen for highlights, resulting in an even more crisp image, but for this project, I was after a softer look.

The Rich Razzleberry background has a negative cutout using a Tasteful Textures die and then I ran the cardstock through with the Subtle Embossing folder. The background is popped up for some depth. And finally, the sentiment ended up two layer because neither looked right alone (the Crumb Cake is also stamped). Clear rhinestones were the only embellishment.

I love how this turned out!