Welcome to my crafty blog. It’s a bank holiday in the UK today, and for once the sun is shining brightly (most Brits will tell you it usually rains on a bank holiday!) My crafting buddy came round for lunch today and it was so lovely to be able to sit outside and eat. We went for a walk afterwards and then decided it was all getting a bit warm so popped back inside for a bit of crafting (well, that’s my excuse anyway!) – here’s the result

Today’s card uses the ‘hot air balloon’ set from Claritystamp with one of their designer papers. I’ve taken inspiration from a couple of challenges for this one – The Paper Players have got a tic-tac-toe grid this week and I went along the bottom row with heat embossing, DSP & white. I’ve also found Inkspirational, a new-to-me challenge, and took their photo as the theme for my card.

I started by choosing a piece of Clarity’s designer cardstock – half an hour later (…is that just me??!) I’d settled back on my favourite pack, Antarctica. Should have just got that one out to start with! I cut the card to a square and then stamped the balloon and little landscape in WOW clear ink, before heat embossing with their bright white superfine powder. I wanted to extend the landscape further across the card so drew lines with a Versamark embossing pen before heat embossing them in white.

I wanted to make the balloon stand out more, so added colour to it using a couple of Spectrum Noir pencils.

I decided the two little birds looked a bit lost so added a few more with another small Clarity stamp before attaching the whole topper to a 6×6 card blank.

I haven’t added a sentiment, as I’m not yet sure who this one is for. One thing is sure though, I am highly unlikely to be embarking on a balloon flight myself as I cannot cope with heights and need to keep my feet firmly on the ground!