Stampendous Party Balloons and Nellie Snellen border set MFD-023

Hi and thanks for stopping by :-)

I made a clean and simple boy's birthday card - well, I actually made this card twice!!  I had finished colouring up my image, then proceeded to ink up my sentiment with the black ink pad, but somehow dropped the ink pad on top of my image.  Oops :-(   Do you think I was grumpy??!!  So, it was back to the drawing board........  At least, it was a quick and easy image to colour - if it had been something very detailed, my head may have exploded!!  Note to self:  add sentiment before colouring images!!  Anyhow......

I used the Splitcoaststampers Inspiration Challenge IC266 - the Stephen Joseph Gifts website.

I am also playing the Splitcoaststampers Fan Club January Challenge - but as the Challenge is only open to Fan Club Members (ie: you have paid to join the SCS Fan Club), part of the rules is that you are not allowed discuss the Challenge Themes and details outside the Fan Club  - which is not to exclude you (my Blogging friends), but merely following the rules.  I joined a few months ago so I could put something back into the website which I love so much!! 

I coloured the image with Derwent Coloursoft and Prismacolor pencils + OMS.  I added some fine crystal glitter to the highlights on the balloons, plus the coloured dots around the strings.  I decided to underline the sentiment with my red and yellow pencils because it seemed a little "lost" and I wanted to draw your eye to it.

Here is a close-up piccy of the balloons:

The gorgeous blue border was diecut with my Cuttlebug and one of the border dies from my NEW Nellie Snellen border set MFD-023.  You use the same sandwich as for Spellbinder Nestabilities.  I love this particular die - it is so suited to masculine cards, so I can see myself using it alot.   Note that I was careful to attach the border evenly so that the eges matched.  You can always trim down the sides of your card to even things up.

I added a Scor-Pal line above the border - I often do this to just "finish" the edge before I attach it to the rest of a card.  Lastly, I corner-punched the top corners of the white cardstock.  I thought about adding a ribbon, but in the end decided to keep things simple.

And here is my stepped up version:

I stamped the image twice, then cut out just the balloons and popped them up on mounts (dimensionals).  I used various sizes of mounts so the red balloon is the lowest in height and the blue balloon is the highest.   After diecutting the blue border and adding the Scor-Pal line, I ran the blue cardstock through my Cuttlebug using my Swiss dots embossing folder.  The ribbon was attached in 2 separate elements and the bow itself was made with my Bow Easy.  Here is a close-up piccy so you can see the dimension of the balloons:

Thanks again for stopping by!  

Jocelyn

ETA:  In response to Shaz's question: I use Google Picasa (free download from the Internet) to add my details on my photos. 

Card Recipe:

Stamps:  Stampendous 'Party Balloons' CRY008 cling rubber, Sentiment from Penny Black 'It's your day' 30-046 clear set

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo black

Accessories:  Cuttlebug, Nellie Snellen Border-2 MFD023 die set, Swiss dots embossing folder, mounts (dimensionals), Derwent Coloursoft + Prismacolor pencils, paper stumps, Odourless Mineral Spirits, Scor-Pal, Bow Easy, ribbon, fine crystal glitter, Designer Dries Clear adhesive (for glitter), cardstock:  sky blue, KW Doggett Knight white

Punches:  Stampin' Up corner punch