'Bees & Balloons' Birthday Cards

 

I was flipping through the paper pad "Little Book of Bees', and near the back was this print. In between the honeycombs was a phrase - which I knew I would likely never use on a card. There are SIX of each design in the pad, so I pulled out all 6 and decided to use the panels by adding a strip of cardstock down the center to completely hide that sentiment. (Sorry, I can't remember what it even said!).

The pad is UK sizing, but I usually trim the panels down to work on a 4x6" card. These ones though, I wanted to trim to 4x5.25" and use on an A2 card base. Once I had them trimmed down and had added the white cardstock strip I was ready to decorate. This long stamp with the balloons & Happy Birthday seemed perfect! I stamped and die cut six of the images then coloured with alcohol markers. It's been AGES since I've done any colouring.

Before popping the balloon images up with foam tape, I lightly inked the centre with blue ink so it wasn't quite as stark. I added three gold foil bee stickers to tie in with the honeycomb, and coloured their bodies with an alcohol marker. Then I added some Wink of Stella glitter to the balloons - I do love shimmer & shine on a birthday card. 

I stamped the sentiment inside and my cards were finished. I'll be saving one for my stash and the remaining 5 will be donated to my Mom's old nursing home. I was happy to be able to use up 6 of those panels in one go - especially since my initial reaction was that they would have to go into recycling. 

Supplies used:

Little Book of Bees, Hunkydory

Birthday Balloons (stamp and die) - Rubbernecker Stamps

Alcohol markers

Blending Brushes - Taylored Expressions

Blending Sponge - Sizzix

Catherine Pooler coloured inks

Wink of Stella

Gold foil bee stickers - Amazon .ca

Inside - Happy Birthday Sentiments, Pinkfresh Studio

Mini MISTI