Backyard Party

Today I'm sharing two birthday cards from my craft retreat a few weeks ago. I made these cards with the Backyard Party stamp set (Essentials by Ellen). 

I started by stamping the images on white card stock, coloring them with pencils, and then cutting them out with the coordinating dies. I originally wanted to make an interactive card with a lift-the-flap feature, but after playing around with it for quite awhile, I got frustrated and decided to make two "regular" cards instead. So I divided the images up to make scenes for two cards.

I used die-cut circles to ground the scene on each card, as well as to add the sentiments. For the card backgrounds, on the red card base I added some shimmery splatter, and on the other I used die-cut wood planks to cover a white card base for some texture. I embellished both cards with several clear droplets.

Even though these cards weren't what I had in mind when I started, I think they turned out okay. The one detail that really bugs me, though, is that on the right-hand card, I didn't glue the balloon in quite the right place -- the string is next to the raccoon's hand instead of in it. Oops!

Thanks for stopping by!