Balloon Bunny Birthday

The current challenge for Creative Knockouts is "Birthday Wishes." I decided to create this card for The Birthday Party Project. They throw birthday parties for homeless children, and collect birthday cards to give to them. I used the February challenge sketch from Scrapbook & Cards Today's blog for my design.

I stamped my bunny & balloons from Mama Elephant's "Up and Away" set onto a scrap of Strathmore Mixed Media paper. I used Hero Arts Charcoal ink for the bunny, and Versamark for the balloons. I heat embossed the balloons with Ranger Super Fine Detail White embossing powder, and colored both images with my Inktense pencils, using a damp paintbrush to pick up & apply the color. After I'd finished coloring, I went over the bunny's eyes with a black glaze pen, just to help them pop more. Finally, I die cut my images with the coordinating dies.

I die cut a tag from Mixed Media paper with one of the "Pinpoint Main Street Tags" dies from Memory Box. I stamped the balloons on the upper part in Versamark, and heat embossed them. (Because the "Up and Away" die cuts out just the balloons, and not the strings, I needed to do this to get my balloon strings on the tag.) Then I inked over the tag with Tumbled Glass & Broken China Distress inks, to create an ombre look.

I chose a rainbow striped patterned paper scrap from my stash, and paired it with yellow cardstock for the background. I cut the patterned paper so it would be about 2/3 of the width of my card, and adhered both pieces to a white A2 card base. After gluing the balloons & bunny to the tag, I adhered the tag to my card.

For the greeting, I used the "Happy Birthday" from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps' "Birthday Bash" stamp set (discontinued). I mounted it to the door of my MISTI, and used Memento inks in Lady Bug, Tangelo, Cantaloupe, Cottage Ivy, Bermuda Blue, & Grape Jelly to stamp it in a rainbow. I inked up the beginning of the greeting with Lady Bug, daubed off at the right edge with a dry cloth to create a softer transition, and stamped. Then I wiped off my stamp, inked the next portion with Tangelo, daubed off on both sides where I'd inked, and stamped. I repeated this process for each color, to create my rainbow gradient. Finally, I cut my greeting into a banner, and adhered it to my card.

As a finishing touch, I added some glitter with a Clear Sparkle Spectrum Noir Shimmer Pen to the balloons, and went over each balloon with Glossy Accents.