This week at Just Add Ink, Trish has come up with a very cool theme .... just add balloons, to your papercraft project.

I have made a card for a little boy.  I don't actually know any kidlets turning 3, but the number of balloons I added to my card determined that the card would be for a 3 year old!

Starting off, I chose the cute starry paper from Stampin' Up!'s Snow Festival Designer Series Paper pack.  My Color Coach suggested I team Gumball Green with Marina Mist and Midnight Muse - and what a cool colour combination it is! 

I used my new Button Buddies stamp set (in the new catalogue, out 1st September), from Stampin' Up!, to make a birthday card for my sis, who rather likes 'cute'.  The pig stamp in this set definitely qualifies as cute!

My trusty Color Coach suggested the colour combo of Pink Pirouette, Early Espresso and Baja Breeze.  Gorgeous.  Forgive the rather blown-out colours in the photo, but I got all excited about a rare burst of sunshine and photographed it outside before giving the card to the birthday girl.  I stamped both the base card, and the white panel across the middle, with tiny hearts in Pink Pirouette.  After stamping and crimping the sentiment, I spritzed it with Pink Pirouette as well.

Here's the card I came up with, for Lynda:

I decided last night to have a play with my Button Buddies stamp set - a gorgeous new set debuting in Australia/NZ at the beginning of September.  One of the great perks of being a Stampin' Up! demonstrator is the ability to earn some sets for free, and to pre-order others before their official release.  Button Buddies is one of the sets I came home from Convention with in May, and I have exercised incredible restraint (if I may say so myself!) and only just inked it up now!

My starting point for these cards was some Daffodil Delight buttons, that I got for free with last month's Stampin' Up! promotion.  I checked my Color Coach, and decided to go with the suggestion to use Daffodil Delight, Night of Navy and Old Olive together.  I never would've come up with this combo on my own, but I love the look.

I'm entering these cards in this month's So Shelli Creative Challenge.


This first card also uses another little stamp set (containing a couple of sweet sentiments) that will be out 1st September:




I've used the same colours on my second card, but changed things around a bit.  I am rather partial to the little scalloped mat I put behind the sentiment (can you see it?).  I used my SU! Scallop Envelope die to cut a Crumb Cake envelope, then cut off the envelope flap and just used that portion.  Don't you think it looks cute?!