Balloon Celebration

Sweet Happy Birthday

~ moanaj ~ Leave a comment

This recycled kit was originally a valentines card with all kinds of little die cuts and stamping.  Real big difference and I am totally in love with it.  It is so sweet, and I came across a stamping technique that it going to be used again and again.  It isn’t new I am sure, but new to me, so it counts.

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I love this particular balloon stamp set.  The outline images and then the fill stamp to give it a little interest and fun.  My first thought for the card front involved several free floating balloons with hand drawn strings.  Those strings just didn’t do it for me, they were distracting from the pretty balloons.  So I tried again using the bouquet of strings for the balloons.  That worked much better for me.  I then adhered punched out balloons over the top of the stamping using a glue dot at the base of each balloon.  It was enough to hold it in place and I don’t even mind that you can see the adhesive, totally worth it.

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I had to add some on the inside as well.  Giving the interest I love without a lot of bulk. Don’t get me wrong, when it is time to pile it on I go for it, but sometimes it is nice to not worry about putting something through the mail.

The tag was fun to add.  The stitched framelits are adorable.  They give a lovely finished edge so easily.  I wanted to use the ribbon from the kit but I didn’t want to interrupt the lines of the balloons, so I kept the ribbon to the tag.  I thought that worked out nicely.

While I love the look of a clean and simple card, the tag had a burst of color and it left the balloons out of balance.  So I went back to the stamp set looking for some help. There are these two little dandelion flower guys that I thought could work.  I placed them on the same block and stamped them across the bottom of the card in a bit of an upward angle.  I thought it looked like the breeze was blowing them gently up into the air.  The tag looked a bit bleak, so I gave it the same treatment.  For me, the new technique was to carry the look of motion, or the flowers blowing, across the front of the tag.  So fun!

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Taking these old kits and putting them to work in a different way has been so much fun. Only two more days of sharing this little series, but I think it will change how I work. I always want to have kits on hand to play with.

Have a creative day!

Moana

Happiest of Birthdays!

~ moanaj ~ 2 Comments

Birthday cards for children are so fun to make.  I guess you wouldn’t have to put an age limit on these though, my oldest daughter would think they are just right.  Either way, these two bright and cheery cards will bring smiles to some darling little girls.

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I used to make two cards at a time to show them differently, but I kind of got away from that.  I have had a request for some birthday cards and though it would serve well to make more than one.  I certainly had fun though.  I used a new stamp set and a couple of older ones that hadn’t come off the shelf for a while.

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I was struggling a bit with the birthday block letters for a while until I decided to sponge the edges.  Sometimes the oldest techniques are the best.  I also did a bit of stamping off to get the different tones.  All of the shades were done from one ink pad.  The lighter rectangles were stamped off twice and the darker were stamped off once.  The letters were done full strength.  I do like these letters for sure.

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Have a creative day!

Balloon Bouquet Celebration

~ moanaj ~ Leave a comment

I finally got my back ordered balloon bouquet punch and I am totally celebrating!  This punch is just the coolest thing and totally worth the wait.  This will be getting tons of use, just tons.

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I may have gone a bit overboard with the balloons, and the cording, but I love how pretty it is.  One special person will get this card, and I think I know who it is.  Not everyone appreciates how much time can go into a hand made card, but those that do deserve every one they get.

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I used a leftover kit from Saturday’s workshop to make this project.  I stamped several balloons on the background paper.  To get the tone I wanted I stamped off once before I applied it to the card.  Then on my other paper, that I would be punching, I stamped off twice.  Both sets of balloons were also stamped with the dotted accents in mint macaron and gold encore ink.  I added gold to everything and sponged away.  Too cute!

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Have a creative day!

Moana

Balloon Celebration

~ moanaj ~ Leave a comment

Experimenting with water coloring has become one of my new favorite things to do.  I am so young in this medium that it is a constant adventure.  I do try not to do it all of the time, but it might just be my favorite.  Hard to put that off.

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I did stamp off the balloons twice before they got to the card front.  I wanted dark color, but still opaque.  It worked nicely.  The second layer stamping was done only stamped off once to make sure it was seen well.  Also a good fit.  I did go over the balloons again with the aqua painter to smooth things out.  A bit of dabbing with a paper towel helped to create better highlight spots.  Fun and fun. I am still waiting for the back-ordered balloon punch, so I had to layer the balloons with just ink.  That is why I had them opaque.  To allow the layering to show the balloons behind, just like it would with a real bouquet of balloons.  I do think this card is good for just about anyone’s birthday, masculine too.  A really great project that was satisfying on so many levels.

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Have a creative day!

Moana

Shine On Birthday Gift

~ moanaj ~ Leave a comment

It seems like I have gift bags and boxes on the brain lately.  Nothing to be done about that but enjoy the ride.  This one was a touch different than my usual, but only because I wanted to show both sides of this awesome craft card stock.

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I created a tall slender gift bag using the entire sheet of paper.  I gave additional score lines along the center of the side panels for a much easier fold when the bag was shut.  The tops of the sides were removed which left me with these pretty top flaps, which when folded over showed the foil patterned side.  So very pretty.  The pack has several prints and the paper is very hearty.  You could really put heavy items in these and they will be quite secure.

I hadn’t had out my trusty petite petals punch for quite some time.  Kind of like a long lost friend.  It sits on its shelf, along with the others, but other toys were getting more use.  When I was at a bit of a loss as to how I wanted to finish off the embellishments, there it was.  Worked like a charm and made me very happy with the results.  Now I will have to make a card to match it instead of the other way around.  Something different for a change is nice.

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Have a creative day!

Moana