Hello everyone. Hope you’re having a good weekend – we’ve actually had some sunshine today after weeks of rain, so it feels like things are looking up! I’ve got some cute chicks to share with you today, from one of my demos on Friday afternoon’s Clarity Social TV show – these Chicks & Eggs stamps perfect for upcoming Easter cards, new babies and general good wishes!

I decided to go with some simple masking and colouring for a card to welcome a new arrival. The thing to remember when building images with masks is to start from the front and work backwards, so I first stamped the little chick standing at the front and popped the pre-cut mask that comes with the stamps onto him (there is no way I’d have been able to fussy cut his feet out!) Next was the bottom half of the egg and, once that was masked, I added the final chick peeping out of the top.

He got masked too, and I added colour to the background by brushing ‘broken china’ and ‘mowed lawn’ Distress Oxides out from the masks with stencil brushes.

You may have noticed that I’ve got a bit addicted to the Faber Castell Polychromo pencils. an I pulled out two shades of yellow and an orange to colour in this little pair. I took the flat white look off the eggshell with ivory and pale grey Polychromos too. All I then did was add a mount of Antarctica companion paper that I’d cut with the Lattice Doodle Frame-it Panel dies and finished with one of the lovely little A Whole Lot of Love sentiments from the February Products of the Month.

I think this set may see a bit more action this Easter – the decorated egg stamps are so pretty too. Before then, I’m going to share this with a few current challenges, starting with Triple B (for the birds!) Cardz4Galz are looking for ‘things with wings’ and CAS on Friday have got a ‘cute’ theme – both boxes ticked, I think!