Birthday Smiles Ice Cream & Balloon Cards with Mendi

Hello there!  It's Mendi here today and I'm so excited to be taking over the blog for the week. Today I have a couple of bright and happy birthday cards to share using a versatile set from our original release called Birthday Smiles.  This set has so many options packed in it and I've been dying to find some time to finally play with the coordinating dies we released in the Spring!

Up first is a card taking advantage of the dies by using them to cut the shapes from felt.  I'm weird, but I actually find fussy cutting relaxing so I don't always use the coordinating dies, but I think this die set is one that works so well as a stand-alone set too with all the cupcakes, ice cream and banner images.  

I started by stamping my sentiment on the bottom of my card panel using our Sweet Shoppe set (I decided I would hate to mess that up after all the stitching that follows).  I then adhered the cones to my card with a little liquid adhesive and stitched them on my sewing machine, starting by stitching the outside edge and then using it a a guide to stitch the diagonal rows.  When I was done, I pulled the threads to the back of my panel and taped them down all at once.  From there I added my ice cream and stitched again around the edge (taking the corners slow).  I considered stitching on the toppings as well, but it was getting pretty bulky so I decided to poke holes in the top of each with a paper piercer and add some decorative brads instead.  I finished off my card by adhering some pink felt to white cardstock for stability and then die-cut it using our Sweet Word die.  I love the look!

For my next card I used the Birthday Smiles set to stamp the solid balloon image (it comes with both an outline and a solid version for more techniques and flexibility).  I love how the balloons look when overlapped with each other!  Using my ink swatch book I was able to find colors that were a really close match to my striped Doodlebug paper--Love Jennifer McGuire's system and how it allows me to shop my inks like I'm at a paint store!

I decided I didn't want any extra bulk for the balloon strings this time so I drew simple lines with my Copic Multiliner pen and a clear ruler.  I then just drew some freehand bows.  They are far from perfect, but I decided to just go with it and call them whimsical.  ;)

I finished off my card by stamping one of the banners from the set, coloring it in with my Copics and using our Sweet Script set to stamp the word "party".  I finished off my card with a little twine and bows to match.  This card was super easy to create and I love how bright and happy it turned out!

Thanks so much for hanging with me today.  I hope you will stop back by tomorrow when I will be revealing the first of three new stamp sets we have for Fall.  :)

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