Saying "hi"

 Happy Wednesday!!  It's time for another challenge from The House That Stamps Built and this week is right on trend: Slimline Card! And here is the card I created for your inspiration:

The slimline shape was perfect for creating my scene!  It really gives room for those hot air balloons to soar!  I started by stamping, coloring and fussy cutting all three balloons and the sentiment banner.  I laid them on the card to see where I wanted to place them and to get an idea for how tall my "city" should be.  I didn't want to have blank, weird windows, so I lightly traced around the die cut buildings so I could color in the space behind the windows with a dark gray.  I also used the tracing to decide where my sunrise should be.  For years there was a Hot Air Balloon festival at a local university right down the street from us.  The best time of day for the balloons to go up was in the early morning or early evening as long as it wasn't too windy.  We attended for several years (as vendors so we were there allllllll day) and only saw them go up in the evening once or twice, but I know they took off most mornings.  Anyway, after that, I stenciled my cloud background and adhered all the pieces in place (before adhering the banner, I used a fine point black pen to draw the ropes attaching it to the balloon basket).  Most of the hot air balloons were really colorful, so I chose some bright, masculine colors for my balloons as I figure this will probably be a masculine birthday card.
Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you will hop over to the House blog to see the rest of the DT's creations and then get inky and play along with us.  And if you need any of the stamps I used, check out my 10% off your ENTIRE order coupon code over in my left sidebar.

Supplies:
Stamps: Repeat Impressions "Soaring by to say hi", "Hot Air Balloon" and "Hot Air Balloon Cluster" (I did not use the smallest balloon in that set)

Dies: MFT "Our Town" 

Stencil: Taylored Expressions "Set the Scene: Clouds"

Challenges:

Crafts Galore #85--anything goes

Pattie's Creations #180--anything goes

Die Cut Divas--slimline

Dare 2B Artzy--anything goes

Crafty Creations #419--anything goes

Creative Fingers Challenge Blog #203--anything goes

Lil' Patch of Crafty Friends #153--anything goes

Creative Moments #210--anything goes

As You Like It--Favorite way to cut your image (I am definitely a fussy cutter!  I would never be able to line my stamp and/or die up exactly right to get the outlines perfect like you can with scissors.  But if I want a border, I can cut a perfect one with my scissors as well, much more versatile than with dies)

Cardz TV #136--anything goes

Pink Gem Challenge--anything goes

Crafty Sentiments--anything goes