I was asked to (quickly) make a birthday card for my mom from my brother. Her birthday is approaching but, since she will be visiting with my family tomorrow, my brother agreed that it would be easier for me to give it to her then. So.. I had to come up with something quickly that would not require too much time commitment in coloring or construction. I remembered Mama Elephant's Birthday Wishes stamp set--it has the most beautiful, large scripted birthday sentiment, and some heartfelt (and funny) companion sentiments. My brother did not have many suggestions, and left the creativity to me. :)
I decided to use the emboss resist technique and embossed the large "happy birthday" sentiment in gold. I wet my watercolor paper and painted on distress inks with my water brush in Shaded Lilac, Seedless Preserves, and Picked Raspberries. I chose not to distress the inks when dry, just a personal preference in this case.
Since the card was from my brother after all, I then thought about Mama Elephant's Little Boy Agenda stamps. They are so darn adorable and a fun size to add in contrast to such a large birthday greeting. I settled upon the boy floating by balloons and decided to add a cloud border to the bottom of the card front to help ground the addition of the boy. I used Lawn Fawn's Puffy Cloud border Lawn Cuts, swept on a bit of distress ink in Salty Ocean for a bit of color, and adhered it to the bottom edge of the watercolor panel. After coloring the boy and his nifty balloons, I die cut the image and adhered him with foam tape as he floated just above the cloud's edge.
I love the simplicity and whimsy the card presents. I hope my mom loves it too. Well, from my brother, of course. :)