Birthday banner with MFT Beary Special Birthday

Hi Everyone,

Sorry for the sudden silence here, but - as those of you who follow me on Instagram already know - our baby girl Hanna decided to come to this world a little bit sooner than planned ;o) We're both doing fine, but looking after her and her Big Sister is of course my top priority right now, hence crafting and social media will need to take a small break... I'll do my best to write here as often as I can, and I am updating my Instagram feed with older makes from last year that never made the cut for sharing online for some reason, hence I won't be totally silent, but updates might be less regular for a while... 

That being said, crafting has always helped me with keeping (relatively) sane, hence I am sure I will try to squeeze in at least a few crafty minutes here and there over the coming weeks, Hanna and Amelia allowing :o)

Today I am sharing with you a birthday banner piece that I made for Diane AKA DiDeDi's Crafty Corner - not only was it her birthday this month, but she's also hosting a fabulous competition/giveaway on her YouTube channel, and luckily I managed to make something for her more-less in time. 

She wanted us to make something that represents our crafting style - mine would definitely be rather eclectic, and depends on my mood, weather and season, but rainbow colours, cute critters, interactive & sparkly is something that I incorporate into my projects very often, hence this is what I came up with:

I must say, it was the first banner piece I have ever made, and I had loads of fun with it - I have a feeling I might make these a few more times in the future for special occasions & celebrations in the house! I don't own a banner die, but I managed to get around it with tools I do have in my craft room already - so proud of myself! ;o)

I am loving the end result - the colours turned out super vibrant, the embellishments worked well, and the adorable bear on a little wobbler is too cute! I hope Diane likes it, too. 

I am entering the project into the following challenges:

MFT Color Challenge - Challenge 86

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Layer it up

Have a great week,

Mirella

SUPPLY LIST (please see affiliate disclaimer & essential supplies info here):

Eyelets & washi tape from my stash

Altenew Baby Balloon - Distress Ink blending

Hi Everyone,

Today's card was inspired by the colours of the current Altenew challenge - pinks, oranges and yellows. I really wanted to play with some of my recently won stamp sets, and this time opted for the "Baby Balloon" set. It's nice and versatile, as you don't necessarily need to use the balloons for baby cards - I think hot air balloons are awesome for masculine cards, safe travel kind of cards, standard birthday cards, and many more! 

As you know, I send out most of my cards, hence I like keeping them light and flat enough (especially since we're in Finland, as in Ireland postage prices are a little bit more "card-maker-friendly"). Hence, this one layer card today. 

I used Distress Inks and a stencil I made myself from acetate for the sky. I had to add a few splatters of water here and there (some are just water, some are water mixed with Perfect Pearls). I stamped and heat embossed the balloon image (I finally understand why people like the Liquid Platinum embossing powder so much - the colour is really so cool!), and then lightly went over the entire image with a white Prismacolour pencil, to make it stand out a little bit more... You can't really see it in the pictures, but in real life it gave a really nice effect. 

To finish the card off, I added a sentiment from a different Altenew set (Beautiful Day), and I scattered a few of the gorgeous Honey Bee Confettis here and there... Oh, and before adding any od the embellishments, I also ran my panel through my Big Shot with some of the Lawn Fawn border dies - they don't cut any borders, but they give nice pierced/stitched details - I went for pierced this time, and I really like this additional little detail on the panel. 

A nice and cheerful card, I am pretty happy with the end result! 

I am entering the card into the following challenge:

Altenew - January 2018 inspiration challenge

Have a great weekend,

Mirella

SUPPLY LIST (please see affiliate disclaimer & essential supplies info here):

HoneyBee Stamps: Bokeh Lights Confetti Mix