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This was the third card submitted by me for the Club Posh Birthday Card Contest. The third time was the charm, as this card was one of the four winners!


No stamp pads were used in the creation of this card. Instead, I used Marvy Brush Art Markers...colors used here are from the *Victorian* set. These markers are designed for applying color directly to the rubber, and it's the best way to use several colors on one stamp, as I've done here.

Please don't just use any old *magic markers* on your rubber stamps. You will need to go to a craft store to find dye ink, acid-free, brush art markers. Marvy is the most common brand you'll find, and it is excellent. But there are many other great brands out there as well.

To start, I chose the colors I wanted to use for the candles, then selected cardstock and eyelets that closely matched these colors. The base card was made from orange cardstock. I used the markers to apply the colors to the candle stamp, and stamped it four times on glossy white cardstock, re-inking each time for a strong image. These were trimmed to size as shown.

I then cut out four rectangles, slightly larger than the candle images, using four different colors of cardstock to co-ordinate with the candle colors, and matted the candles onto them. I set a matching eyelet into each.

The "Happy Birthday" stamp actually looks like the one in this picture (I used the smaller one here). To re-arrange the words as shown, you will need a tool called a stamp positioner. This is the one that I have, but there are other brands and designs for this very useful tool.

I first inked only "Happy" on the stamp, stamped that onto glossy white cardstock. I then cleaned the stamp thoroughly (this is VERY important!). "Birthday" was then inked, and the stamp postioner was used to stamp it exactly where I wanted it.

Note that I used the ink colors in the same sequence as in the candle stamps.

"Happy Birthday" was trimmed and matted onto orange cardstock, and this was attached to a navy blue strip cut to the width of the orange card. Four orange eyelets were set into this as shown.

I felt the background needed a little something more, so I cut five strips or colored and white cardstock, trimmed to the width of the card, and adhered as shown. The "Happy Birthday" strip was attached to the bottom of the card, and the four matted candle images were also attached. Once again, the colors were arranged in the same sequence as the candle colors.

Both of the stamps used here are from Posh Impressions.

Finally, thanks to all of the Club Posh members who voted for this as one of the winning cards! It means a lot to me to win the very first contest that I entered!