Birthday grace

I used the faux batik technique to create this card. The stamp is actually a border stamp, not a background, and I really enjoy using it.

I coupled the two text stamps together because it's just so easy, at least if you're over 35, to think of birthdays in a negative light, when really, I think the older we get, not only do we have more wisdom, but I think as Christians, we become better able to recognize how gracious God is and has been to us. Anyway, those were my thoughts as I put this card together. One of my panels was a bit messy, but that enabled me to go ahead and cut it up to get the individual flowers. While faux batik is relatively easy, it can be time consuming, so if I hadn't made a messy panel, I wouldn't have wanted to cut out the flowers, lol! I used an autumn Kaleidacolor pad to cover the embossed panel. After using the roller, I sponged on extra color where needed.

Tip: I was first embossing in clear on cream, but it was very difficult to see where to place the continuous border images, hence the messed up panel. I got smart and pulled out white cardstock, and used craft vanilla, so I could see what I was stamping!

Just to show another way a border stamp can be used, I made what looks like a background panel with this same stamp. I embossed two sides, then covered the ends with post-it paper, and embossed the other two sides. I really thought the corners would show a messy overlap or gap, but it really looked surprisingly smooth.