BBTB2 Birthday Balloon Challenge

Did you miss us last week? Hope everyone enjoyed their Easter break, and I certainly hope you had a chance to stop by BBTB2 and get all the deets for our current DT call. There's still time, so if you missed it check it out HERE. But this week it's time for a new challenge. Our fabulously talented DT sister Jeri chose a birthday challenge with BALLOONS! What's a party without balloons, eh? And these may be from any Cricut cart so we hope you have a ball with this one. I'm afraid I interpreted this a bit differently than my teamies, but I've always had a thing for hot air balloons and the fact that I don't think I've ever used my Summer in Paris cart sealed the deal. When I started designing this in DS I had full intention of using the intricate swirly top cut for the balloons and was afraid to go too small so this ended up being really too big for a card (sorry Jeri!) so I made it into a birthday door hanger. None of the cuts (except "It's your day" from Celebrations) had shadows which would be a problem for the design I had in mind, so I made my own. The clouds from Create a Critter worked ok with a little fussing with an 1/8" smaller cut. The balloon shadows, however, were built with welded shapes from George. These were all welded in DS and then the fun began.
After cutting the swirly layers I decided the whole thing looked just too busy with the 3 balloons so I went back to the drawing board and decided embossing was the ticket. I trimmed the ropes from the colored cuts and also a section so I could emboss and pop the baskets separately. Each basket is done with a Stampin'Up folder. The deep orange is embossed with the Daisy Pattern European edition Cuttlebug folder, the tangerine with the Sizzix Bow Strings, and the bright yellow with Happy Birthday from ??? (hmm, have to look that one up, I'm having a senior moment). The cloud embossing was already in the Dotted Swiss paper by Bazzill.

Embellies included Prima flowers, a banner cut from the Carousel Cart and a liberal sprinkling of adhesive pearls.

I have to say, the layering took on a mind of it's own. I really wanted to create real depth and since it isn't a card...well...I guess I got sort of carried away. (I kinda have to say I love it, though. LOL) The rest of the DT has fabulously inspiring projects so pop on over to BBTB2 and have a look see. We're excited to see what you some up with as well, just be sure to follow the rules, stated at the top of the blog and have fun!

I'm also entering this in the My Craft Spot Make it Pop Challenge, and Simon Says Stamp and Show Anything Goes.