Two Birthday Cards

Kristina Werner's lesson on Day 4 of Online Card Classes' "Stretch Your Dies" class involves die cutting from one card panel and adding those die cuts to a second card. Basically getting what my dad would have called a "two-fer"! So I created 2 birthday cards to send to Send a Smile 4 Kids.

I began my first card by stamping the hot air balloon from Hero Arts' Operation Write Home "Happy Birthday" set on a piece of 140 lb. watercolor paper, using Ranger Archival Watering Can ink. After applying masking fluid to the balloon (and waiting a LONG time for it to dry), I used my watercolors to create a blue ombre background. I wasn't happy with the look I ended up with though, so I went over it again with Distress inks in Chipped Sapphire, Peacock Feathers, & Broken China. Once I'd gotten the background like I wanted, I removed the masking fluid from the balloon, and colored it with Inktense pencils, using a damp paintbrush to blend the colors out.

To die cut the stars, I used 3 different dies from My Favorite Things' "Blueprints 13" & "Blueprints 15" sets. I die cut the largest stars at the bottom, the mid-size around the middle of the panel, and the smallest ones towards the top. (Kristina had suggested this to give a sense of depth.) I made sure to save all the die cuts for my second card.

I stamped the "happy birthday" greeting from the same stamp set onto a piece of light tan cardstock, using Hero Arts' Pool mid-tone shadow ink. I cut that into a banner shape, and glued it towards the bottom of the card. Finally I applied foam tape to the back of that panel, and adhered it to a piece of yellow cardstock, which has the effect of "coloring" the stars. I double-matted that with 2 shades of green cardstock, and finally adhered it to a 4.5x7.25" card base.

For my second card, I began by die cutting the balloon from yellow cardstock, using the largest die from Simon Says Stamp's "Balloons" set. I cut the top and side off, both so it would fit on an A2-size card and sit at an angle. I glued my stars that I'd die cut from the first card, again placing the largest towards the bottom and working my way up. I glued a piece of fun foam, cut slightly smaller than the balloon, to the back, and then glued that to a piece of striped patterned paper from my scrap stash.

For the greeting, I used one from Lawn Fawn's "Grand Greetings" stamp set. I stamped it on a piece of white cardstock using Versamark, then heat embossed it with Ranger Super Fine Detail White embossing powder. I blended Chipped Sapphire Distress ink over that, and cut it into a banner. I glued it to the balloon, adding small pieces of fun foam where it stuck out beyond the sides of the balloon. Finally, I added a coat of clear Wink of Stella glitter over the stars, and adhered the completed card front to a white A2 card base.

I'm entering my first card in a2z Scrapbooking's March "Color It In" challenge.