Happy Birthday!

Today is the final day for Live Love Cards' August "Birthday Cards" challenge. I decided to create one more card for this. I will also be sending this to Darlene at LLC, to donate to an organization that throws birthday parties for homeless children. You can read more about that at the Live Love Cards site.

I used Operation Write Home's Sketch #239 for my design. I began by cutting a piece of 140 lb. watercolor paper to size for my focal panel. I stamped the elephant from "Birthday Celebration" from Simon Says Stamp in Versafine Onyx Black ink. Then I colored him in with my Inktense pencils, using a damp paintbrush to pick up the color from the pencils and blend it on the image. I also added a bit of shine & dimension to his eye with a Sakura black glaze pen. (I got that tip from Nichol Spohr.)

For the greeting, I die cut the "Happy," also from Simon Says Stamp, from dark blue cardstock. The "birthday" comes from Simon Says Stamp's "Birthday Messages" mini set. The stamp actually says "happy birthday," but I just needed the second word. So I performed a bit of "stamp surgery," and cut the stamp between the words. Then I stamped that onto a piece of light blue cardstock, and cut it into a banner shape.

I double-matted the focal panel with "screaming" green & pink cardstocks, leaving a 1/8" border on each mat. I adhered a piece of patterned paper (from my scrap stash) behind it, and mounted the whole piece to a piece of striped patterned paper from my stash. Then I determined where to place my banner so the "happy" didn't overlap the image, and adhered it in place on the striped panel. I used Ranger Multi Medium Matte to adhere the die cut "happy," so it kind of hugs the "birthday" part of the greeting.

I die cut the balloon from another scrap of watercolor paper, using one of Lawn Fawn's "Party Balloons" dies. I colored it with a blue Inktense pencil, and let that dry. I cut a piece of white crochet thread, and tied it around the bottom of the balloon. I cut a small slit in my panel, where the elephant's trunk wraps down, and used a large needle to pull the end of the thread through that. I popped my balloon up on some foam tape, pulled the thread (fairly) tight, and taped the end to the back of my panel. To keep the thread from coming off the balloon, I applied a dot of Perfect Paper Adhesive Matte. All that was left was to mat my panel with a piece of hot pink cardstock, adhere that to a white A2 card base, and apply a coat of Glossy Accents to the balloon! Hopefully this will bring a homeless child a bit of joy.

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

Through the Craft Room Door: "Anything Goes"
Simon Says Stamp Flickr Challenge #52: "Cut It Out!"