Big Bithday Wishes

Hey stampers, Anni here!

I have the feeling that this summer the companies came up with extra cute summer sets and I want to use all of them that I bought before summer is over! Although I think nothing is wrong with a summer card in winter when we need it the most, isn't it?
And I can't think about Christmas cards yet although I love to make them and all these super cute new Christmas sets are keep popping up. But it's still very warm in Germany and as long as the weather is good I keep making summer cards.
So today I have this card for you featuring Mama Elephant's Summer Splash.

I started by stamping all the images I wanted to use and coloured them with coloured pencils. To cut them out you can get coordinating dies.

To create the background I teared a piece of masking paper to get a rough edge. I used both parts of the torn piece, one to mask off the sky, the other for the beach. I added ink blending in beige/yellow for the beach and a mix of pinks and lilacs for the sky. At first I went with shades of turquoise for the sky but the elephant got lost on it wearing a turquoise swimsuit. So I decided to start a new background in different colours.

I die cut the background using the big frame from Mama Elephant's Framed Tags Madison Avenue. I thought I would use the frame as well but decided that it took too much attention from the scene. So I used only the inner part.

Again to tone down the background I added a layer of vellum. I die cut a circle using My Favorite Things' Jumbo Peek-a-Boo Circle Window as it had just the right size.

For the sentiment I chose one of Mama Elephant's Birthday Messages. I stamped it with Versamark on a stripe of matching cardstock and heat embossed it in white. And that finished up my card.

Are you still in summer card mode or are you preparing for Christmas or Halloween cards? Let me know.

Thanks for stopping by and have a crafty weekend.
Anni