Watercooler Wednesday - #WWC108 Gail's Sketch Challenge

The week's just keep flying by, and once again it's time for the weekly Watercooler Wednesday Challenge.  This time around it's a fun sketch #WWC108 that's being hosted by Gail Allen.

We welcome all submissions so why not make a card using this sketch and link it to our challenge site.  This sketch challenge runs from March 1st through March 6th, 2017 at 5:00pm MST. 

Here's My Card:

What a fun sketch!  Since I had a 70th birthday party to attend on Friday I decided to make another birthday card using the Shadowbox fancy fold technique.  This sketch layout worked perfectly for the card front. For details on how to make this fancy fold and the link to a video created by Dawn Griffith just click on this link.

Here's a view of the inside:

Supplies: 
Stamp Set: Balloon Adventures
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black Ink, Pacific Point
Card Stock: Whisper White, Pacific Point, 
DSP:  Party Animal, Pumpkin Pie Glimmer Paper
Accessories: Big Shot, Balloon Pop-Up Thinlet Dies,Stitched Rectangular Squares (Non SU), Mini Treat Bag Thinlet, Tweezers

I purchased the Balloon Adventures and Balloon Pop-Up Thinlet Dies as a bundle and saved 15%.  I knew I would use both of these sets many times over so they were a great value!

 

In this first card I didn't add a sentiment other than the "No One Deserves a Happier Birthday Than You" to the front of this card because the rectangle took up so much room and there wasn't a lot of space left to stamp along the line.

Assembly:
1. Card Base - Tangerine Tango 5 1/2" x 101/2" scored at 1/2", 4", 4 1/2", 8"
2. 1st Front Layer - Whisper White 4" x 5 1/2"
3. 2nd Layer - Tangerine Tango 3 3/4" x 5 1/4"
4. Party Animal DSP 3 1/2" x 5" Cut on an angle
5. Tangerine Tango 2 1/4" x 3 1/4"
6. Whisper White for sentiment 2 1/8" x 3 1/8". Also a scrap for sentiment on second card.
7. Whisper White layer for inside front panel 3 x 5 1/2"

Stepped Up Version:
I liked this design sketch and Shadow Box card so much that I made a second  version.  This card will be for a girlfriend whose birthday is in April.  I wanted to step up this version and make it a little more feminine than the first version so I began by changing the colour scheme from Pacific Point to Tangerine Tango and the DSP patterns.  

Other changes included swapping out the Pumpkin Pie Glimmer paper balloons used in the first card to Dazzling Diamonds.  I added the "Party On" sentiment along the paper division so it was true to the sketch challenge.

The "Party On" and "No One Deserves a Happier Birthday Than You" are just two of the great sentiments from the Balloon Adventures stamp set. 

I glammed up the inside of the card by adding the negative images from the Pumpkin Pie balloons to the Dazzling Diamonds ones. The result is a super shiny pumped up version of the balloons.  I also punched out some Pacific Point stars and glued them behind the balloon images to enhance the background. 

For the left hand side of the card I cut out the word "enjoy" from the Mini Treat Bag Thinlets and another balloon image.  

I'm happy I left more white space for writing my happy birthday messaging on this version of the card.  Isn't that balloon string gorgeous?  It's from the Balloon Adventures stamp set too. What fun!  

Mini Treat Bag Thinlet dies - lots of great dies in this set beside the bag frame.

 

Note: When I cut out the balloon images with my Big Shot I always set the negative images that are removed aside just in case I want to re-use them. I don't want to dig through the garbage can later on.  To make these teeny tiny pieces easier to handle use a pair of tweasers or a short bamboo skewer to pick them up.  I add my Tom Bow glue to the negative space and then re-insert the pieces. The Pumpkin Pie Glimmer paper came out this year with the Fall Occasions and I was so happy I had some left for this card.  This Glimmer Paper combination seemed to work really well together.  I'm excited to get the new Glimmer Paper Stack that's being offered in the Sale-A-Bration second release, and will use it the same way. 

Thanks so much for checking out my card today.  So what do you think?  Let me know which version of the card you like more or whether they're both okay.  I know that I'll be using this sketch often as it was so quick to pull together and it will be terrific on any card front and for any occasion.

Happy Stamping!
Penny Tokens Stampin Spot