Balloon Birthday Revisited

Back to the drawing board for the birthday card from last week!  I had three extra kits from the card making session and decided to make them up this afternoon.  I found a Papertrey Ink die cut and stamp set "Heart 2 Heart" with a sunshine and clouds to add to the cover.

I like this one for the triple deckle edge.

The pearl heart on the cloud and highlights on the balloons are new too.

I used some of the confetti from the bubble punch to add texture on the background.

This was my first attempt and I'm not liking it very much.

I do like the dotted sentiment flag but the empty spot beside it couldn't be filled by sequins really.

The glitter highlights don'r stand out much, but I used Ranger Pearl Dots on the background 

(which gave me the idea to use it for highlights!).

This is the version I liked best.

Balanced composition makes the card look bigger.

Nice pearl heart on the cloud.

Simple sentiment stamp less busy.

Five balloons make a nice bunch--and tall for height.

I will use them all in the next month for birthdays but it was fun to dabble today.

Spritz, Spatter and Sparkle

I need a masculine birthday card for the weekend--belated, too!  I found an inspiration card on Pinterest and decided to take it up a level--or two--with spritz, spatter and sparkle.

by Liz Holloway of stampersplus.com

Start with a white card base (half of an 8.5 by 11 inch sheet of card stock folded in half). Add a color trim to match one of the balloons which will be added later. It can be a quarter cut of a full sheet, trimmed 1/8 inch smaller all around. Then cut the card top that we will spritz and spatter and sparkle. It can be trimmed down 1/4 inch all around so the color trim will show as the middle layer on the finished card.

This is the Martha Stewart small balloon punch used to make some yellow, green and blue balloons. I'll be making kits for my card making group so I kept on punching.

The next step is to spritz and spatter the card top.  I used Stampin' Up Baja Breeze re-inker in a bit of water in the Stampin' Up spritzer. Play around with it until you get the effect you desire, using paper towel to soak up too much ink and a heat tool to dry it.

I used Smooch Spritzer in Pearl to add a little shimmer.  I also added some spatter using the nozzle of the ink spritzer against my knuckle. You can also add some silver dots with a Sharpie in Metallic Silver.

Next, add some texture to the card top with a deckle trim on one side and an EK bubble punch on the other.  I like the deckle look, but find the Fiskars deckle edge scissors a bit frustrating to use.  

Tip:Take it slow with short snips and try to match the ins and outs.

Now it's time for sparkle! I used Martha Stewart's Glitter and Glue set as the highlight on the green and blue balloons. My card was masculine, but I'll be taking the Art Mind flower-shaped sequins for my group to use should they choose to make a more feminine card. I used the Studio G Glitter Glue on the yellow balloon. I added my own balloon ties with a .1 Staedler pen.  A chance to doodle! Then add the balloons to the card with foam adhesives to add dimension.

Last item to add to the card is the sentiment, mainly so that you can determine exactly where to place it on the card top. I used the EK Success Large 2 Point Flag both as a pennant and a longer arrow (using only the edge of the punch).  I had trouble finding some shorter birthday sentiments to fit on the 2 point flag. but finally settled on some from the Fiskars Happy Birthday set and the All Year Greetings set.  The longer sentiment stamps are from Scrappy Cat. StazOn Jet Black stamp pad makes a good, dark impression.

And here is my final card:

more balloons 

(odd numbers are more pleasing to the eye)

more texture

more dimension

more color

I have a card for the birthday this weekend

and 

kits for my card making group on Monday!

Make It Monday Challenge

Each Monday, Papertrey Ink (PTI) sends a video lesson of a team designer's new design and/or technique. Today's Make It Monday (MIM) really inspired me because I love to doodle.

Here is today's design by Ashley Cannon Newell using doodles to enhance some watercolor stamping.

And here's my version:

And here's how I did it.

I used Ranger Distressed watercolor paper to stamp with PTI's Wildflower Garden daisy-like petaled flower.  I wet the paper with a Kuretake water brush pen and then stamped the flower only with PTI Aqua Mist Dye Ink and G Studio Rose and Color Box Lilac.

I used the leaf only with PTI's Simply Chartreuse and Ranger Distress Ink Peeled Paint.

I used a mister and a small paintbrush to blend the colors a bit more and heat-dried the piece.

I also used just the bloom of the smaller flower (lower right in the case).

Next, comes the fun!  Using a Staedler pigment Fineliner set, it's time to doodle away,

Watch Ashley's video for more details on how to achieve a sketchy look.

The pens come in .1, .3, .5 and .7 thickness.
Make dots and sketchy lines for borders. Add some depth in the middle with wider, darker lines.

Add a sentiment, if you like.

I used the Hello die cut from The Creative Workshop (TCW) in three thicknesses 

of black card stock and a polka dot paper using Creative Memories Precision Point Adhesive.

I anchored the watercolor paper with 1/4 inch Scor-tape after it was completely dry.

The watercolor paper was slightly smaller on one side than the card base of PTI Aqua Mist.

I secured it to the right and distressed the left edge with an Ranger distress tool.

I was very happy with this design and may make some more in other color combinations.

The doodling was the best part!