Have a Little Fun Today

This is the final day to enter the Pin-Sights challenge at The CLASSroom blog by Ellen Hutson. They posted an inspiration photo, and the challenge is to make a project using any Essentials by Ellen product(s) that is inspired by the photo.

January 2018 Pin-Sights inspiration photo

I took my inspiration primarily from the colors and the outdoor photo to create a little birthday scene card.

I began by cutting a piece of Strathmore Smooth Bristol paper to 4.25x5.5", to create an A2-size card front. I die cut a mask using a My Favorite Things "Snow Drifts" die (discontinued) and Delicate Surface Frog tape. I applied my mask to the lower portion of my panel, and inked above it with Tumbled Glass Distress ink and the "Mini Cloud Edges" stencil from My Favorite Things. After I had finished the sky, I adhered the other half of the mask over the bottom of my sky, and inked the grass area with Shabby Shutters & Mowed Lawn Distress inks.

I stamped the hippo & several of one of the balloon images from "Wish Big" (Essentials by Ellen) onto more bristol paper with Hero Arts Black dye ink. After that dried, I colored the images with my Tombow markers, using a water brush to help blend out the colors. When the paper had dried, I die cut everything with the coordinating dies.

After I determined where my hippo would stand, I stamped my greeting (from Essentials by Ellen "Up the Happy") on my background panel, again with Hero Arts black ink. I decided at this point that I wanted another grass layer in front of the hippo. So I die cut one using a Lawn Fawn "Grassy Hillside Borders" die from more bristol paper, & inked it with the same green inks. I glued my hippo in place on my background, and glued the grass in front of him.

I decided, since this is a birthday card, that there needed to be another birthday "symbol." So I used the party hat stamp from "Wish Big." I "inked" it with a purple Tombow marker, and stamped it on bristol. I then used the same marker to color it, blending out the color with a water brush. Finally, I added white polka dots with a gel pen, die cut it with the coordinating die, and glued it on top of the hippo's head.

To create the bunch of balloons, I first laid them out on the background (without gluing them down) to determine a good distribution of colors. Then I glued the bottom/back-most one to my background. I poked a hole through the paper at the base of the balloon, and threaded through some black thread. I taped one end to the back of my panel, and trimmed the other end long.

I poked another hole under the hippo's tail, and threaded the other end of the thread through that, so it looks like the balloon is tied to the tail. I repeated this process for each remaining balloon. Finally, after I had threaded all the lengths through the hole under the hippo's tail, I taped those ends to the back of my panel and trimmed off the excess. I adhered my card front to a white A2-size card base, and glued googly eyes on the hippo for some added fun.