Happy Birthday to You

The challenge on Day 3 of My Favorite Things Camp Create (Session 2) is "Inlaid Made Easy." I must admit, my first attempt at die cut inlay for this project was anything BUT easy! I think I just got a little too ambitious, having layers of lots of balloons. It went fine when I was reassembling everything--until pieces quit fitting. Needless to say, all that I accomplished (in over 2 hours of work) was putting a little more paper in my recycle bag! :( So for version 2.0 of this card, I decided to scale things back a bit.

I read in this blog post about a boy named Jacob, who has terminal cancer. He turns 14 next month, and this will probably be  his last birthday. He wants to receive 10,000 cards for his birthday. So I decided to make this card for him.

The inspiration for my design came from this card by Jennifer McGuire. I began by die cutting my card front panel from a piece of 140 lb. watercolor paper with the largest of Simon Says Stamp's "Balloons" dies. I inked it with Cracked Pistachio & Blueprint Sketch Distress inks, and then sprayed it liberally with my homemade Perfect Pearls mist (Perfect Pearls powder + water). This blended the colors even more, and added a slight bit of shimmer.

After die cutting 3 balloons (Lawn Fawn "Party Balloons") from patterned paper scraps, I determined where I wanted to place them on my card front. I die cut the openings for the back 2 balloons, and then taped the corresponding patterned paper balloons into those spaces. I then ran it through my die cutting machine again, using the star balloon die.

For the greeting, I used MFT's "Little Letters" dies. It actually took me longer to position the dies on my balloon panel than it took to die cut! I used a dryer sheet under my panel when I die cut the letters, to make sure all the little pieces I'd need wouldn't get lost. (They all stuck to the sheet.) After I'd cut the letters out of my balloon, I die cut them again out of blue glitter cardstock. Then came the "fun" part!

I covered another balloon that I had die cut from white cardstock with Stick It adhesive. This created a full-sticky piece, so I could just pop all my elements in and they would adhere without adding more glue. Then I adhered my watercolor balloon to that. I placed the patterned paper balloons first, then placed in all the glitter letters, making sure to replace all the inner pieces that I'd die cut from the balloon. It actually went together pretty easily this time. :)

To finish my card, I took a third balloon that I'd also cut from white cardstock. I scored a line about 1/2" down from the top, and folded along the score. I added Scor Tape pieces above the line, & adhered my card front to that. I cut a bit off the bottom of the back balloon, just so the card would stand up. And my card was done!

I'm also entering this card in the following challenges:

Die Cut Divas: "Make It Glitter"
Pile It On #112: "Use Your Favorite Color(s)" (used green)