Wishing you a Happy Hot Air Balloon Kind of Day

I seem to be on a hot air balloon kick lately. I just love them. It's on my bucket list to take a ride in one. They're so colorful and happy, and with the Hot Air Balloons die from Elizabeth Craft Designs, you can mix and match colors and papers to create all sorts of varieties. This is a 5" x 7" card I created using the die, along with the Banners die and a brand new, soon-to-be-released Susan's Garden die "Rose Hedge." See the end of my post for all the links to these goodies.

Let's take a look at how this fun card came together...

I began with a 5" x 7" card base of sky blue cardstock. I've also used Graphic 45's World's Fair papers, which are perfect with the hot air balloon theme. [This photo shows the floral paper which I used on one card I made earlier this week, but as you'll see in the coming photos I used a slightly different paper in the collection and I think it works even better.] After layering two pattern papers from World's Fair, I embossed more sky cardstock with the Mini Mosaic embossing folder, then rubbed some Mermaid Lagoon Distress Ink over the raised surface.

I die-cut some of the pieces in the die... (there are more than these!) There are actually tiny little sand bags to attach to the bucket, but I left them out.

...then layered them up. I like to ink edges for dimension, so I used Distress inks for that.

Next I die-cut five pennants from the Banners die. There are four pennants in this set, so I just used one of them twice.

After inking the edges that will show from the front, I laid the pennants in a row and ran a piece of waxed twine at the seams of each, then adhered each flap down to seal in the twine for my banner.

(Here you can see the different paper I used for the background) I adhered all my elements to my card front. You'll notice I added two small bows of the same waxed twine to the ends of the banner. The "Have a Happy Day" stamp is from Hampton Art's "Children's Hour" cling set 2. 

I used different levels of foam tape to add dimension to my elements.

As a finishing touch, I decided to add some tiny little roses and leaves, so I die-cut five orange roses and a bunch of the leaves from the Rose Hedge die. These are super easy to assemble. Just grab some tweezers or a quilling tool and roll them up!

After assembling the roses, and veining the leaves, I added them to my card around the stamped area. This added touch of tiny flowers is what really makes this card special. Don't you think?

Here's another look at the completed card. I'm glad I have two of them now. One to keep and one to send to someone very special.

Let's not forget the inside of the card. Here's a simple way to dress it up. All from the World's Fair collection. 

Supplies Used:

Mini Mosaic embossing folder

World's Fair paper collection

Hot Air Balloons die

Banners die

Children's Hour cling stamp set 2

Rose Hedge die - coming soon!

Mermaid Lagoon Distress Ink

Wild Honey Distress Ink

Ripe Persimmon Distress Ink

Ink Blending tool

Susan's Tool Kit