If you read my blog regularly, you know about the difficult relationship my Oma (grandmother) and I have. I won't rehash it here, but if you missed my previous blog posting detailing some of the issues my Oma and I have had, read my post entitled "The Vintage Wedding Scrapbook Layout that Almost Wasn't."

Despite our issues, I love my Oma dearly and in just over a month, she will be turning 95!  My mom and I have been searching for a fun party theme for a bit and I kept coming across these vintage hot air balloon models that I have fallen in love with.  I decided a "Flying High at 95!" theme with vintage hot air balloons would be fun.  

I also recently purchased Tim Holtz's new Distress Ink of April 2015, fossilized amber, and have been itching to use it.  I just love this color as it reminds me of all the pretty amber jewelry for sale in the markets of Prague, Chez Republic, Budapest, Hungary and Krakow, Poland.  I was able to travel to Austria and parts of Eastern Europe with the Colorado Springs Youth Symphony, playing concerts and sightseeing.  It's one of my favorite memories as I felt really connected to my Austrian and Chez roots.

After coloring a Ranger manila tag with fossilized amber, mustard seed, tea dye and ripe persimmon as well as Prima's Color Bloom spray in gilded and some Faber Castell gelatos, I decided that the tag looked like a sunshine-filled sky and this would be perfect for my Oma on her birthday.  I also cut some Tim Holtz crinkle ribbon and used it to soak up what was left of the inks on my craft mat, then spritzed it some more with fossilized amber spray and gilded to make it super vibrant.  Then I used a Finnabar stencil and modeling paste to mimic clouds on the tag then added some Faber Castell Gelato in coconut (white) with my finger to haze the clouds up in spots.  

I purchased the vintage hot air balloon die cut from the Silhouette store.  I created sketch lines by doing an internal offset and then used a black sketch pen to mimic the look of a stamp and to add a more vintage-y feel.  I chose MME Stella & Rose papers and a Basic Grey paper with small patterns in purple, teal and orange so that the hot air balloon would pop against the golden yellow background.  I also created a banner with my Silhouette Cameo and sketch pens with the title of the theme. 

I used pop dots to raise the balloon up off the tag as well as folding the banner to make it 3D.  I tied on the crinkle ribbon with some jute twine then added flowers and pearls.  I wanted to keep it simple and sweet so that the hot air balloon was the main focus of the tag.  I just loved how it turned out and I can't wait to give it to my Oma on her birthday!

Products Used:

• Ranger Ink:  Inkssentials - #10 manila tag
• Tim Holtz:  Distress Ink - fossilized amber, mustard seed, ripe persimmon, peacock feathers, dusty concord, tea dye; Distress Spray - fossilized amber
• Prima:  12x12 Stencil - scales; Art Basics - modeling paste; Color Bloom - gilded; Isabella - pia; Mini Sachet - spring; Ledger III - 12x12 paper
• Faber Castell:  Gelatos - coconut, gold champagne, lemon, tangerine
• American Crafts:  Jute Twine - persimmon
• Silhouette America:  Sketch Pens - black, red-purple metallic
• Basic Grey:  Hello Luscious - raspberry syrup
• My Mind's Eye:  Stella & Rose patterned papers
• Doodlebug:  Mini Pearls - tangerine assortment

Adrienne