Happy Bird-day

Hope you've been having a great weekend so far -- I've been able to divide my time quite nicely between enjoying the beautiful weather and playing around with some stamps and stuff. ;) Including making a bird-day card for this week's Designer Drafts challenge at Paper Smooches SPARKS.

Hot air balloon? Not today, thank you. But I did like the circle as a design focus, the clouds and the central background panel. Here's my take:

For a while, Birthday Buddies was my only Paper Smooches set, and sometimes you'd think it still is, I use it so much! I thought it would be fun to try colouring this bird in red... I like it! I restamped and cut out his facial features and party hat for some dimension. His eyes have Glossy Accents and his hat some Stickles, plus a custom-Sharpie-coloured rhinestone. Cloud paper AND die cuts (thanks, Jessi! You know I'm going to need my own dies, of course) ensure he's flying high. The sentiment is stamped on a wood veneer banner that I prepped with a light coat of gesso for a bit of a whitewashed look. 
And with hours to go, I'm off to pop this into the running. Enjoy the rest of your day! 

Supplies: white & red cardstock, Echo Park Sweet Summertime Blue Sky patterned paper, Paper Smooches Birthday Buddies stamps, Memories black ink, watercolour pencils, green Sharpie, Paper Smooches clouds dies, Studio Calico wood veneer, Claudine Hellmuth Studio gesso, Clear Rock Candy distress Stickles, Glossy Accents, rhinestone, pop-dot tape