Up, Up & Away

For our one-year anniversary, my husband surprised me with a ride in a hot-air balloon. We had been up once before, during the Michigan Challenge Balloonfest — a perk I received for being a columnist at the local newspaper. But our second time up, as an anniversary celebration, was special since we got to enjoy the ride for nearly two hours away from the crowds and excitement of balloonfest.

Since our trip was taken in the fall and the colors of our photos were so bright, I wanted subtle paper so it would not compete with my photos. When I found this collection by KaiserCraft, I knew it would be perfect.

To start, I added a couple of strips of paper and some hot-air balloon rub-ons to the bottom of the page. Then, I added my photos, journaling tag and a few more rub-ons — including one directly on the photo at the top.

From another sheet of paper, I cut out the ticket strip. I used a circle punch to punch the space between the tickets and decorative-edged scissors to cut the edges of the strip so it would like actual tickets. Then, I took a few rub-ons and added them right on top of the tickets. Next, I scored the areas between the tickets and then attached portions of the tickets so they would be dimensional. They look almost like the real thing, don’t they?!

For the title, I cut two sheets of paper the size I wanted and adhered the bottom one to the page. To the top one, I added another rub-on and then attached it with dimensional foam. With a few brads, this page is finally ready for the album — seven years later!

Time Flies

When Stampers’ Sampler magazine held a contest using a hot-air balloon template, I knew I had to participate.

The rules are simple … use the hot-air balloon template in the magazine and rubber stamps to make something amazing.

My submissions were not selected for publication, but they were fun to make and I wanted to share them …

This one started with paper from Graphic 45. I added ribbon with the Tiny Attacher so it will stay airy and loose like it was flying through the air.

Both the numbers and words are stamped. And the gears and game spinners are from Tim Holtz. Dimensional foam was used under both the balloon and the basket to make a 3D image.

Then I made this one … which I love!

I used Distress Inks to create the background color. The stamp is from Wendy Vecchi. I used a Glaze Pen to add the black dots.

For the basket, I used a Hero Arts background stamp and stamped on Cork Paper by QuicKutz.