Lovebirds - A Red & Pink Valentine's Day Card

This week my Topflight Stamps teammates and I are focusing on a red and pink color scheme, so I've created a Valentine's Day card with PaperArtsy paints, stamps, and a stencil. 

Here's my card!

Topflight Stamps Products Used:

JOFY Lovebirds JM20 Cling Rubber Stamp by PaperArtsy 

Darcy 02 Cling Rubber Stamp Set by PaperArtsy 

Blah Mange, Taro Milk Tea, Bubble Gum, Claret, Blood Orange, and London Bus Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic Paint by PaperArtsy 

Scrapcosy PS374 Stencil by PaperArtsy 

2" Speedball Breyer

Tuxedo Black Memento Ink by Imagine Crafts/Tsukineko

Nocturne VersaFine Clair Ink by Imagine Crafts/Tsukineko

Other Products Used:

Solar White Classic Crest Cardstock by Neenah Papers

140 Lb. Mixed Media Paper by Strathmore

Red Cardstock by Bazzill Basics

Lightning Black Brilliance Ink by Imagine Crafts/Tsukineko

Copic Markers: B95, R56, R59, R81, R83, R89, N7, N8, Y21, Y23, Y26

Black MultiLiner by Copic

White Gelly Roll Gel Pen by Sakura of America

White Prismacolor Colored Pencil by Sanford

Pouncy Tool (looks like steel wool)

Clear Detail Embossing Powder by Stampendous

Rectangle Nestabilities Die Set by Spellbinders Paper Arts.

Fancy Sentiment Ribbon Dies: Source Unknown

Inkssentials Foam by Ranger Ink

Craft Mat
Low-tack Tape

STAY-tion by Wendy Vecchi for Ranger Ink

Stamping Platform

Notes:

• I took some creative license and filled in the line art on the bird's tails to facilitate fussy-cutting.
• Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic Paint by PaperArtsy have varying degrees of opacity, which is marked on their labels. The pinks that I used were all opaque. The reds were translucent.
• True confessions, I hated the first version of the background, so I "rescued" it by brayering the Claret, Blood Orange, and London Bus Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic Paints overtop.
• Lightning Black Brilliance Ink is a fabulous black pigment ink with undertones of metallic gold.
• The Scrapcosy PS374 Stencil by PaperArtsy is a stencil with four patterns on one stencil!

Instructions:

1. Trim a piece of red cardstock to 10" x 7", score at 5", and fold to form a 5" x 7" card. Set aside.
2. Use Tuxedo Black Memento Ink to stamp the birds from the JOFY Lovebirds JM20 Cling Rubber Stamp onto white cardstock. 
3. Use a black Multi-liner pen to add some linework to the birds heads to facilitate fussy-cutting.
4. Color both birds with Copic markers and edge with a black marker. 
5. Add a dot of white gel pen to add accents to the birds' pupils.
6. Use a white pencil to add highlights to their beaks.
7. Add small drops of Blah Mange, Taro Milk Tea, and Bubble Gum Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic Paints to a piece of Inkssentials foam.
8. Smoosh the foam onto a craft mat to drive the paint into the foam. 
9. Pounce the foam onto a piece of mixed media paper until the panel is mostly covered. 
10. Add small drops of Claret, Blood Orange, and London Bus Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic Paints to a second piece of foam. 
11. Smoosh the foam onto a craft mat to drive the paint into the foam. 
12. Randomly pounce the foam over the pink background to add translucent reds to the background.*
13. Add small drops of Blah Mange, Taro Milk Tea, and Bubble Gum Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic Paints onto the craft mat one color at a time, spread each color with the 2" Speedball Breyer, then randomly roll the brayer over the background to knock back the bolder red colors. 
14. Add small drops of Claret Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic Paint onto the craft mat and spread with the 2" Speedball Breyer. 
15. Press the pouncy tool into the paint, then randomly pounce the tool onto the background to add flecks of paint to the background to create visual interest. 
16. Repeat Steps #14 and #15 with Blood Orange and London Bus Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic Paints.
17. Trim the pink/red background to 4.5" x 6.5" and set aside. Retain the rest of the panel
18. Add small drops of Claret Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic Paint onto the craft mat and spread with the 2" Speedball Breyer. 
19. Roll the brayer over either another piece of mixed media paper or rejected painted paper.
20. Repeat Steps #18 and #19 with Blood Orange and London Bus Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic Paints to create a variegated red on red piece of mixed media paper which will be used as the background layer of the card.
21. Use a rectangle die to cut a piece out of the center of the red painted background.
22. Use Lightning Black Brilliance ink and a stamping platform to stamp the clock heart from the Darcy 02 Cling Rubber Stamp Set onto the red painted background.
23. Add clear detail embossing powder, dump off the excess, and heat set. 
24. Fussy-cut the heart and edge with Lightning Black Brilliance ink.
25. Trim the red-painted background panel to 4.75" x 6.75" and edge with the Lightning Black Brilliance ink. 
26. Heat set the edges, then adhere the background to the reserved red 5" x 7" card.
27. Use low-tack tape to secure the section you want to use from the Scrapcosy PS374 Stencil by PaperArtsy over the remaining piece of red painted background. 
28. Use magnets to secure the stencil and the paper to the STAY-tion.
29. Sponge Lightning Black Brilliance Ink over the stencil onto the red painted background. 
30.  Cut the stenciled paper into a .25" strip and a wider one.
31. Edge both stenciled red-painted strips with Lightning Black Brilliance Ink.
32. Cut another remaining piece of red painted cardstock withhe two decorative ribbon slider sentiment dies.
33. Edge both die-cuts with the Lightning Black Brilliance ink. 
34. Use magnets to secure the leftover pink-painted paper (from Step #17) to the base of a stamping platform. 
35. Position the "Lovebirds" sentiment from the JOFY Lovebirds JM20 Cling Rubber Stamp facedown onto the leftover pink-painted piece of paper.
36. Press the lid of the platform onto the back of the stamp and lift. 
37. Ink the stamp with Nocturne VersaFine Clair Ink and stamp.
38. Re-ink the stamp with Lightning Black Brilliance ink and stamp again.
39. Add clear detail embossing powder to the sentiment panel and dump off the excess.
40. Heat emboss the sentiment.
41. Use the small rectangle die to cut the sentiment.
42. Use Lightning Black Brilliance ink to edge the pink/red panel.
43. Adhere the edged pink panel to the card front.
44. Adhere the bottom strip to the pink panel as shown. 
45. Center the heart and adhere to the pink panel as shown.
46. Position and adhere both birds so that they're perching upon the heart. 
47. Thread the small red painted strip through the large ribbon slide die and adhere to the top of the card as shown. 
48. Adhere the smaller ribbon slide die atop the larger one.
49. Adhere the sentiment die-cut onto the layered ribbon slide.

Thank you for visiting today!