1)  Ranger Industries BIG and Juicy "Happy Birthday" was brayered on to the card.

Glossy card stock allows for a smooth application of ink. It doesn't absorb the ink like matte card stock would.

Cover the card completely.

By the way, to clean a brayer I would suggest spraying some water on a paper towel and just rolling the brayer over it back and forth. Probably better to do it before letting the brayer dry for a long time.

2)  Lakeside Cabin 147F was stamped in black.

3)  Pine Row 150E was stamped in Marvy #10 Light Blue in back of the cabin and in Marvy #3 Dark Blue to the right of the cabin. In both cases I faded the impressions toward the bottom of the design. In other words, I wiped off the bottom of the stamps after inking them up with a dry paper towel.

Remove some of the ink off the bottom of the Pine Row with a dry paper towel where the trees will overlap the black Lakeside Cabin trees. I'm not going for a complete removal of ink but creating a situation where the top of the Pine Row is wet with ink and becomes increasingly drier towards the bottom of the stamp. This way you'll have a nice transition from dark to light.

4)  Salvia Blue was added to the scene with the Colorbox Stylus Tool. I wanted to add some surface to the scene by streaking in some blue into the water and to blend the background trees in a little better.

Streaking in some Salvia Blue. This is a light blue and blended into the color scheme well.

5)  Reeds Lg 068D and Oak Branch 203G was stamped in black. Reeds about six times and Oak Branch twice. Note: you don't always have to use the entire area of a stamp. Use portions of them to get more mileage out of your purchase. With the Oak Branch I probably used about 1/5 of the entire design in each impression.

6)  Row Boat 166A was stamped in black. Gel pens were used in the colors of yellow, blue, and pink. I used all of these colors as they were all in the color scheme of the rainbow ink pad. But I also used them because I was looking for a pen that worked. Yes, they dry and clog but I think the results are worth it. Here I've used a lot of the gel on the roof, rocks and in the reflections in the water. The yellow used on the window is especially effective by illuminating the cabin from the inside out.