Washi Tape Balloons Birthday Card

I have a fun birthday card for you today using some of my new washi tape I purchased this week.  I have a friend celebrating a birthday on Thursday and just had to make her a card!  I know the colors of the card are a little masculine (sorry Katie) but most of my supplies are.  I just had to play with this washi tape and this is what I came up with.  I actually remembered to take some step by step photos so let me show you how I made this card!

I started out by cutting the balloon images on my Cricut.  You could use a punch or free hand cut your images as well.  

Once your images are cut, set them on your work surface and cover with washi tape.  The patterns on this tape line up perfectly so it makes a seamless image.  I used three pieces of tape for each balloon. 

Once you have your image covered with tape, cut or tear off the excess.  I'm sure you could cover cardstock with the tape and then use your Cricut or punch but I wasn't sure if that would ruin my blade.  The tape is also very delicate so I didn't know how it would handle in my Cricut.   

I loved how the balloons turned out!  So cute with the washi tape.  I decided to ink the edges though for a little more definition.  So glad I did.  Now they are even better!

Now that the balloons are done let's start on the card base.  Since this card will be going through the mail I wanted to keep it as close to a one layer card as I could.  I decided to use the same emboss resist technique that I used on this card.  To prepare for my stamping I used some post it notes to cover the back of my card and the spot where the balloons would go. 

I inked my background stamp with Versamark ink and after stamping it used some clear embossing powder to emboss the whole image.

I then took my Tim Holtz Distress Ink and blending tools and added the ink.  I used the dark color only on the edges to give just a little more definition.  I did end up adding ink over the area where the balloons would go.  There is just no stamping there to detract from the balloons.  Once you are happy with your inking use a cloth or tissue to wipe over the embossed areas and the ink will wipe off. 

Now you can assemble the rest of the card.  I used some tape to adhere the twine for the balloon strings and covered it up with the balloons. 

I used the same embossing technique for my sentiment.  This time though instead of using my blending tool I pushed the paper right into my ink pad.  After I covered most of the banner I then went over it with the blending tool to fill in those few spots without ink.  I love the result.

There you have it.  A super cute and easy to make card!  I love the way the washi tape balloons turned out and I can't wait to use this tape on a layout!  I hope you'll try using washi tape on your next card or layout.  Thanks for stopping!

Supplies:

• cardstock- misc
• stamps- Hero Arts, Inc. (Life of Party Words), Stampendous (Mini Happy Birthday)
• ink- Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Crushed Olive, Faded Jeans), Versamark (Watermark)
• embossing powder- Ranger (Superfine Clear)
• Cricut cartridge- Celebrations
• misc- washi tape: My Mind's Eye (Green and Navy), twine: American Crafts