Bold birthday balloons

I had hoped that when October was done I would be able to get back on a more regular blogging schedule of posting at least twice per week. But then at the last minute I decided to sign up for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). The goal of NaNoWriMo is to write a 50,000-word novel during the month of November. That amounts to 1,667 words per day. So now the computer time I would have spent working on my blog is spent trying to figure out what the heck I'm going to write next in my "novel." (I use that word very lightly, and I'm honestly not sure how long I'll stick with it.)

But I'm squeezing in a quick blog post tonight. So without further ado, the parade of birthday cards continues.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Whole Lotta' Happy (WPlus9 Design Studio)
Paper: Thick Whisper White, Berry Burst, Lemon Lime Twist, Pool Party card stock; alcohol ink card stock (YUPO)
Ink: Craft Whisper White; Wild Plum, Aqua, Lettuce alcohol ink (Ranger); white gel pen
Accessories: White embossing powder, Balloons dies (Simon Says Stamp), Sitting Pretty Nautical Accessories (Taylored Expressions), glitter enamel dots, clear Wink of Steall glitter brush pen, white crochet thread (DMC), "Happy" die-cut sticker (Paper Pumpkin leftovers), Dimensionals
Other: Gel plate (Gel Press), hand sanitizer, spritzer with rubbing alcohol

This card started with an alcohol ink background I made using a gel plate. I wasn't crazy about the whole background, so I decided to use it for die cuts instead. I used a set of balloon dies to cut out three balloons, and I tied a bow of white crochet thread around the end of the largest balloon.

For the background I chose three card stock colors that coordinated with the alcohol ink -- Berry Burst, Pool Party and Lemon Lime Twist -- and cut several strips that were 4" long and of varying widths. I arranged four of the strips at the top of a white card base and one strip along the bottom. I left the middle part white and added a die-cut Pool Party "happy" sticker. To finish the sentiment, I used white embossing powder to emboss "birthday." I added the three balloons to the top part of the card and embellished with a few glitter enamel dots and two die-cut arrows.

Thanks for stopping by!