Sunny Side Up

Here is a card that I created tonight for a friend who is having a rough time of things right now.  I wanted to make something bright and cheerful to let her know I'm thinking of her.  I'm also submitting this card into the Lawn Fawn Lawnscaping Challenge: Clean & Simple,

 and the Lil' Inker Designs Sunny Days Challenge.

I was inspired by the beautiful images of the sky in this photo, and the bright, cheery yellow color pops.  :)  With that said, here's the card I created:

I just bought this new paper pack called FEELIN' groovy from We R Memory Keepers, and I thought the bright cheery papers were perfect for this project.  I die cut and stamped my balloons with the Up, Up & Away dies & stamps from Papertrey Ink and paper pieced them using kraft cardstock for the baskets.

For the background paper, I used Glimmer Mists in Sea Glass and Rip Tide to create my sky by spritzing them onto watercolor paper. I really wish that the sparkle of the Glimmer Mist was visible in my pictures; I haven't figured out how to photograph it.

My clouds and sun are die cut using the Lil' Inker Designs Sunshine and Clouds dies.  What I love best about these dies is how they die cut the stitched line into the paper; I think it just adds so much more character to the project!  I think the sun looks awesome with that paper from the FEELIN' groovy pack!

The sentiment is from the LID Sun Sentiments stamp set, and is stamped with VersaMark and then embossed with Ranger Super Fine Detail embossing powder.  I think this is the first time that I used that embossing powder, and I'm really pleased with it.  The sentiment came out just as crisp and clear as it does with ink alone!

I also used two different thicknesses of pop dots to create some depth of field for the focal images, which you can hopefully see here:

And last, but not least, I created a coordinating envelope to mail it in:

I used the rock-&-roll technique to get a two toned look to my balloon using PTI inks in Orange Zest and Summer Sunrise; just to add some more sunshine and cheer to the project.  :)

Overall, I'm thrilled with the turnout of this card!  It was one of those projects that turned out exactly as I had envisioned it in my mind.

I hope you've enjoyed it as much as I do!