Happy Birthday!

This is my second birthday card for the little boy I spoke about in yesterday's post. I didn't use a particular sketch for this one. Rather, I recreated one that Kristina Werner did in Online Card Classes' "Insider" class that I took last year.

I made an extra-long tri-fold card by combining 2 top-folding cards. This way, it still folds down to fit in an A2 envelope. I started by stamping the balloons from this Mama Elephant set towards the top, using Ranger Archival Jet Black ink. I stamped the bunny so it looks like he's holding the balloons. Then I stamped the monkey and fox lower down on the card. I colored the images with Inktense pencils and blended the colors with my water brush. Finally, I stamped the greeting using Lawn Fawn's "Milo's ABCs."

I next stamped the balloons & animals on copy paper and fussy cut them. I also die cut several clouds using this set. I ran all the pieces through my Xyron Creative Station to add repositionable adhesive to the backs. Then I adhered all the masks.

Once my masks were in place, I took Tumbled Glass Distress ink and my Mini Ink Blending Tool and blended the ink over the whole card. I made sure not to make it a solid color, so it would look like a soft sky. When I finished that, I removed all the masks. I penciled in 2 lines going from the balloon strings down to the greeting, to give the monkey and fox something to hold on to, as well as tie in the greeting with the images. Then I went over those with a black fine-tip marker to finish off the card.