WWC178 - Crystal's "All About Occasions" Challenge

It's Crystal's turn to host our challenge, which is "All About Occasions" this week.  I love special occasions, don't you?  This time, since I was dying to use a brand new stamp set which I just bought, I decided on a birthday card.

Which stamp set?  I can just about hear people asking the question.  Well, I won't delay any longer.  This week I finally got an Art Impressions set which I had ordered a little while ago.  Bonnie Krebs, the original artist, has done a wonderful job creating this adorable set of Sloths.  The image of the one in the birthday hat, hanging off a branch "spoke" to me.

I wanted this to be a bright and happy card and so, after using a white card base, I used a "skinny" layer of Soft Suede as a matte for the gorgeous new Pineapple Punch In-Color.  It's such a clear and bright yellow and sets off the Real Red of the "celebrate" die-cut sentiment and rounded matte for the main image.

On a piece of Whisper White I stamped that wonderfully goofy Sloth and had a ball colouring him.  For the balloon, I coloured the image using Real Red even though it is mainly covered with that cute Real Red Honeycomb embellishment (sadly retired).  For the party hat I continued with the red and yellow theme.  To finish up the image panel, I used my aqua-painter to add splotches of Pear Pizzazz, Coastal Cabana, and Old Olive to give an illusion of leaves and sky peeking though.

What can I say?  He makes me smile.  I hope he makes the birthday boy smile as well.

For a look at the wonderful creations by our Watercooler Artists, check out our Watercooler Wednesday Challenge blog.  And then feel free to link up your own special occasion card.

I'm also entering my birthday card into the Addicted to Stamps & More Challenge #300 - Birthdays
And also into the Sunny Day Crafting Challenge #26 - Any Animal