Happy Birthday Wishes

My high school art teacher is having a birthday next weekend, so I created this card to send to her. I got the inspiration for the design from one of the cards Jennifer McGuire made for this post/video.

I cut a piece of Strathmore Smooth Bristol paper to 4.25x5.5". I inked it completely with Spun Sugar Distress ink, and then stenciled the panel with Cracked Pistachio Distress ink & My Favorite Things' "Small Brick Wall" stencil. Once I had finished inking, I removed the stencil & used my Distress Sprayer to spritz some water droplets on the panel, let that sit for several seconds, and then blotted the water up with a dry paper towel. This gave me a soft background, but with a little more interest than just a plain colored cardstock.

For the balloons, I used 3 of Lawn Fawn's "Party Balloons" dies. I cut them from more bristol paper, and colored them with my Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers, using a water brush to spread the color. Then I set those aside to dry.

I die cut the "birthday" from dark blue glitter cardstock, using one of the "Cause for Celebration" dies, that I just got from My Favorite Things. I positioned it on my background panel, and used that to help me position the balloons. I popped the balloons up on foam tape, using liquid glue to adhere them where they overlapped. Then I glued my die cut word down. Had I been thinking ahead, I would have used Stick It on the back of my glitter cardstock, and adhered the die cut to the background, rather than gluing it. Oh well!

To "hang" the birthday die cut, I cut 4 pieces of silver thread. I tied one end of each piece to the bottom of each balloon, adding a drop of glue to keep it in place. Then I used my paper piercer to poke holes in the background above 4 of the letters, threaded the balloon strings through those holes, & taped the ends to the back of the panel. Finally, I doubled up more lengths of thread, and tied a bow for each string. (Not an easy process!) I glued the bows to the strings where they met the letters.

For the rest of the greeting, I chose the "happy" & "wishes" from Simon Says Stamp's "It's Your Birthday" stamp set. I realized--after I'd let the glue for the bows dry a bit--that I needed to remove the first & second bows, to have room to stamp the "happy"! Thankfully, I was able to pull them off without hurting anything. I used my MISTI to help me position the stamps, and stamped them with Hero Arts Navy ink. Then I reglued the bows I'd taken off. Finally, I trimmed the 2 end balloons where they hung over the edges of the panel, & adhered the finished card front to a white A2 card base.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Dies R Us Challenge #68: "Something New" (the MFT word die set is new to me)
Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday Challenge: "For a Special Lady/Girl" (my art teacher is certainly a special lady!)
Through the Craft Room Door: "Anything Goes"
Simon Says Stamp's Monday Challenge: "Make Your Own Background"