Happy Seize the Birthday!!

Seize the Birthday is celebrating a birthday of its very own - it's our 200th challenge! So we're throwing a birthday party and offering a few presents to mark the occasion - Nancy has generously offered two $25 gift certificates to Simon Says Stamp for our top two winners! To be eligible to win any of our prizes, we are asking that for this challenge only, you follow the current "topping" - anything goes entries will not qualify for prizes. And our challenge topping is... 

BE INSPIRED BY OUR 

CHALLENGE GRAPHIC!

Create a birthday card or project inspired by any aspect of the graphic above: the colours, the balloons, the watercolour look... the choice is yours. Please be sure to explain in your post exactly how the graphic inspired your creation. 

For even more fun, four of the design team members have goodies to be won - and I am one of them! Here is the prize for some lucky entrant: 

Three stamp sets from Simon Says Stamp! To win any of these *hidden* prizes along the way, we ask that you stop by each of the design team's blogs and leave a comment. 

Here is how I was inspired: 

I knew right away I wanted to take advantage of the three balloons in the upper right corner of our graphic. I used the same stencil as I did for this card a few weeks ago, but in a quite different way, picking individual balloons to stencil onto my card base. My colours are not exact copies of the colours of the originals, but I had three new inks I wanted to try out! I used the same inks to add splatters all over the card, again inspired by the graphic. Finally, I embossed a big bold sentiment, added some sequins for sparkle and score lines around the edge. 

I hope the Seize the Birthday challenge graphic will inspire you to make a birthday card - or up to a maximum of three! - and play along with us for a chance to win a prize! 

Supplies: Koh-I-Noor smooth bristol, A Muse Birthday Greeting stamps, Versafine onyx black & Catherine Pooler Melon Ice, Stone Blue & Polished Inks, Hero Arts clear sparkle embossing powder, Studio Katia Birthday Balloons stencil duo, Gelly Roll black sparkle gel pen, Sharpie pen, Wink of Stella clear glitter pen, Little Things from Lucy's Cards icicle sequin mix