Vibrant Colors and Background Dies!

Hi Crafty Meraki Friends, Aly here, and I am so excited to be a guest designer on the Crafty Meraki blog for the month of January. For my first card, I wanted to make a Valentine's Card but with vibrant rainbow colors. Come see how I made it! 

When I saw this background die, I just knew I could use it in so many different ways. To start, I ink-blended an A2 sized rainbow background using Rina K's Electro Pop inks on white cardstock. I wanted BOLD colors! I splattered some white gouache and Perfect Pearl on the background as well for some shimmer. Then I cut down the panel a bit and glued it onto an A2 sized white notecard. 

Next, I die-cut the Crafty Meraki Eccentric Hearts background die from white cardstock. I wanted more of the vibrant background to be on display, so I cut out the heart strips and glued only 5 of them on the front card panel. 

After my background was finished, I needed a focal point for my card. When I first saw the images from the Crafty Meraki Birds of Paradise stamp set, I knew immediately I wanted to use the image that looks like a mommy parrot hugging a baby parrot as a Valentine's Card or Mother's Day card. I stamped this image on a heart diecut with black ink as well as the sentiment "Love You" which I got from the Crafty Meraki Love FURever stamp set. I colored in the image with Prismacolor pencils in colors that I tried to match to the background. I also lightly ink blended around the edges of the heart with the leftover ink that was on my blender brushes. 

Because I take so much time making my cards, I have an obsession with decorating the inside of my cards as well as the envelopes. For the envelope, I stamped some of the images from the Birds of Paradise and Love FURever stamp sets in black ink. For the inside of the card, I ink-blended with the same colors along the right edge of the card, glued one last strip of white hearts from the Eccentric Hearts background die, and stamped a little butterfly in black. 

I had so much fun making this card. This card design has a lot of potential to be remade just with different colors or different focal images. I hope that you have enjoyed my first post and that I inspired you in some way today. I wish you all the most magical and crafty day!

Aly Ricke