Balloon Hello!

I hit a very busy patch at work, which kept me away from doing anything else for a few days. But the work week is now done, and I have time to be crafty again! And good timing, too, as I've got to make a card for a girl's birthday party that's happening tonight (I know, I know, I'm cutting it really close!).

Today's card features a fantastic digi from Meljen Designs called Hot Air Balloon. Melissa is still having a half-off sale on all the digis, so be sure to grab the ones that catch your eye. :)

I started by printing out the image onto some Copic X-Press it cardstock, and trimmed it down to fit a card front. I rounded the corners with my corner chomper, then got to coloring. I didn't do anything fancy with the coloring, just focusing on adding some fun color. After the coloring was all done, I went around the edges of the panel with a blending tool, using Peacock Feathers distress ink.

Since the stamped image was so lovely and bright, I decided to keep the rest of the card simple. I created a standard A2 base out of gray cardstock, then glued a strip of striped patterned paper. I adhered the strip straight to the cardstock, then adhered the balloon panel with foam tape. It seemed like it needed a little more detail, so I added a few dash lines at the bottom of the card.

I also wanted to add a small sentiment, so I grabbed Butterflies stamp set from Simon Says Stamp. I inked up the round hello with pigment ink and stamped it onto some white cardstock. Once it was dry, I carefully cut around it. I added a small white dot border with my gel pen, and adhered it to the card with foam tape.

Supplies:
Meljen Designs Hot Air Balloon digital stamp
Simon Says Stamp Butterflies stamp set
Memento Luxe Bahama Blue pigment ink
My Favorite Things Heavyweight cardstock in Grout Gray
Ranger Distress Inkpad in Peacock Feathers
Ranger mini blending tool
We-R-Memory-Keepers Cropadile Corner Chomper
Imaginisce Perfect Travel 6x6 patterned paper
Tombow Craft Dot Adhesive Runner (pink)
3M Double-Sided Foam Tape
Copics (E33, E17, E29, E50, E53, YG13, YG17, YG67, B000, B00, B02, C2, 0)
Sakura Gellyroll White Gel Pen
Black pen