Hi there!  Found a bit of time to create this week while little Miss Izzy was sleeping!  That was pretty exciting for me – to steal away and do something fun just for me, instead of doing laundry or dishes while she slept.

I hope you love the card this week.  It’s made with my VERY favorite stamp set from the Occasions 2015 Catalog.  Coincidentally, there’s something else I love about it…matching framelits!  Genius!  Another genius thing?  The stamp set and framelits are a bundle, so ordering them together saves you 15%.  Love that!  Anyway, on to the card details.

The balloon was stamped into a Pear Pizzazz Classic Stampin’ Pad first.  Then I used a sponge dauber to sponge Old Olive ink onto the left half of the balloon.  I think I could have done a better job at blurring the line between the two but oh well.

The “birthday” sentiment is stamped with VersaMark after dusting the balloon with the Embossing Buddy.  Then I used a combination of White and Iridescent Ice Stampin’ Emboss Powder (I believe my ratio was 1:1) and the Heat Tool to emboss it.

The banners were inked up with Melon Mambo, Old Olive, Daffodil Delight and Pool Party Stampin’ Write Markers.  The bow was inked up with a Melon Mambo Classic Stampin’ Pad.  Then all the pieces were cut out with the corresponding framelits dies.

The background is my FAVORITE part!  We learned this technique at Convention last summer, but this was the first time I tried it!  I placed the dots mask from the Dots & Stripes Decorative Masks onto a 4″ x 5-1/4″ piece of Pool Party Cardstock.  Then I used the fine point of the Pool Party Stampin’ Write Marker to trace the circle and then fill it in with scribbles in one direction and then in the other direction.  It creates a really neat, crosshatch-like pattern.

A tad bit of Crushed Curry Baker’s Twine acts as the balloon string and the bow and banners were attached to the main balloon and Stampin’ Dimensionals applied to that group before attaching to the Pool Party piece.  Then that was attached to the Melon Mambo card base – cut at 5-1/2″ x 8-1/2″ and scored at 4-1/4″.

I hope you’ll play along with us at the As You See It Challenge this week.  This was a GREAT sketch with a myriad of options!  I also used the color combination from Colour Q Challenges.