Happy Birthday Balloon

This has to be the quickest post ever amidst some incredibly busy days; I'll pop back with more of an update later, but meanwhile I'm just squeezing in today's creative post with my entry for this week's challenge over at Less is More, where we have the following sketch to work from:

I'm also linking up to Colour Q, as I've used their colour palette on my card today. 

When I saw the sketch, I immediately knew what I wanted to do with it; the circle was asking to be a balloon. Here's my card:

I masked off the vertical panel and sponged it in Smoky Slate, to look like a cloudy sky. For the balloon itself, I inked the balloon stamp from the new 'Celebrate Today' set in Calypso Coral, then took a sponge dauber and added some Strawberry Slush ink to one edge, to add some dimension. I stamped the stars on top using Cherry Cobbler ink. I cut the balloon out with the co-ordinating framelits (gotta love marching framelits!) and fussy cut a balloon 'tail' before adhering to the card. A Strawberry Slush twine bow and my sentiment stamped in Cherry Cobbler and finished - wouldn't it brighten your day to see a colourful balloon like this floating across a cloudy sky?

I'm off out to host a Stampin' Up! party for the lovely Jacky tonight, so I'll pop back and update the details on my card later (edited - now done!) - happy stampin'!

 Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Celebrate Today Photopolymer Bundle	Calypso Coral Classic Stampin' Pad	Cherry Cobbler Classic Stampin' Pad	Strawberry Slush Classic Stampin' Pad	Strawberry Slush Thick Baker's Twine
Smoky Slate Classic Stampin' Pad	Whisper White A4 Card Stock	Sponge Daubers