What’s cream and black and red all over?

Happy Valentine’s Day! Because this is the day when roses and the color “red” rule the world, I thought I would share a collage that takes a simple cream and black invitation and kicks it up several notches by adding red roses.

When I was gathering papers for this collage, I came across some gorgeous red rose printed paper by Stemma. The roses on the paper are so vivid you can almost smell them.

Previously, I had worked with white, pink, and yellow rose paper, but I had never seen red rose paper, and I was drawn to it immediately. The dark tones of this paper just seemed to complement this invitation, so I decided to be bold and "go red" with this keepsake.



Along with the red rose paper (see it in the lower left corner), textured paper in various shades of cream, red, and black are incorporated into the design. Texture and dimension are added by the unusual "fabric" paper with the red, black and gold floral print, the beaded cream paper, black ribbon, satin flowers, and gold and black skeleton leaves.

Sometimes, people tell me they don’t want to have Purple Raincoat create a collage because they receive an invitation that they think is “too simple” or even “ugly.” I say that just as all babies are beautiful in their own way, all invitations have “inner beauty” that doesn’t always shine through until put into the right context. And that’s what Purple Raincoat can do, no matter what the invitation looks like.

And here's something I learned today about St. Valentine: "He is the Patron Saint of affianced couples, bee keepers, engaged couples, epilepsy, fainting, greetings, happy marriages, love, lovers, plague, travellers, young people." According to the same source, "saints are not supposed to rest in peace; they're expected to keep busy: to perform miracles, to intercede. Being in jail or dead is no excuse for non-performance of the supernatural." So if you need a miracle in any of these areas, now you know who to ask.

On MSNBC, Keith Olberman just mentioned the beekeepers and as he noted, maybe that's why we call each other "honey". Have a sweet day.

Purple Raincoat collages make any day a sweet day. Visit us at www.purpleraincoat.com to see samples of our unique collages, which make the most memorable gifts.