Handmade Birthday Cards

After I finish a layout or some other type of crafty project, I have a bunch of scraps that I simply cannot throw out.  I keep them all to use in other projects, but the easiest way to finish up those scraps it to use them on cards.  Apart from the cardstock, this card is made from scraps.  So those tiny pieces of adhesive patterned paper still got some use, since making the pennants for the banner didn't require large chunks of paper.  The border on the bottom comes from a narrow strip of patterned paper left over from a layout I did a while ago.  I hand stitched the string for the banner and wrote the greeting right on top of it.  I made this card almost two months ago, but did not upload it 'til now.  And would've forgotten about altogether it if I hadn't made this next card for a dear friend of mine.

  

This card is actually more than a week late (my friend's birthday was last Sept. 14th).  Though I had planned on making it way before, everything just got crazy hectic at work and I just didn't have the time to make it until last night.  This is inspired by the movie "Up", which my friend really loves, and I've actually seen layouts online that are similar.  The balloons are punched out from assorted scraps of patterned paper/cardstock.  I've put glossy accents on some of them to give them more dimension and a balloon-y kinda feel.  I cut out cloud shapes from scratch paper that I used as masks.  I simply pressed the white inkpad into the cardstock base and blotted the extra ink with paper towel to even it out.  The sentiment inside reads: "Our wish for you is that everything will be on the UP & UP this year and in the years to come." 

Materials:  Cardstock (All About Scrapbooking), pen (Uni), ink pad (Fancy Ink Box), others - embroidery floss, assorted patterned paper & cardstock, tools - border punch (Fiskars), craft punch (CarlaCraft), and stamp (Crafty Secrets).