Lesson Learned...

This card & photo was totally inspired by Cathy Z.  I CASE'd her card and even followed her photo layout!  I love her sense of humor on her Insta-stories and You Tube videos. Anyway, I saw a card on her blog and even though I didn't have the exact same floral stamp, this set Avery Elle Mother's Day worked just great!  Sometimes when you see a card you get all crazy and start filling an online shopping cart and then you realize you have something that would work just as well.  One of the things that I can't do without now that I have it all set up is my stamp binders.  Read my post about my stamp binders HERE.  I have every stamp that I own in these binders by category so that if I'm looking for a sentiment or a specific size or type of stamp, I can page thru one of the three binders.  It was a TON of work and took me hours upon hours to complete, but now that I have it, I use it all.the.time!  I highly recommend doing it - do you remember all the sentiments that you have in every stamp set that you own?  Neither do I, but I can easily go thru my binders and find things that I didn't even realize that I had in my collection.  It's been a wonderful reference tool in my ever growing collection!

I stamped on the rough side of the Tim Holtz water color paper with Onyx Versafine ink & clear embossed the image.  I used Zig Marker colors - Mid Green, Light Carmine & Carmine Red along with a water brush.  I did color a few leaves with Copics YG01 & YG03 since there was a lot of greenery on this floral stamp. 

This Happy Birthday die was tucked away in a container in my stamp room.  When my friend, Doreen visited last Fall she brought the die with her & I die cut several of them to use later.  It was the perfect size and I love the look of the stacked birthday greeting.  I did add one leaf & a few berries from another stamp set (Avery Elle Holiday Bouquet) that I tucked in under the main floral image.  I added Wink of Stella to the flowers and berries but the picture doesn't really show the shimmery shine!  I love this card and thank you to Cathy Z. for the inspiration.  Her clean & simple designs are right up my alley!