Fishing You a Happy Birthday

Today was yet another day spent in my classroom prepping for the start of the school year, only today was different.  I was greeted by visitors as it was open house at school this afternoon, all my hard work getting the classroom ready was put on display.  While I have spent the better part of the last week getting ready, I still feel there is plenty left to do with not enough time to do it all.  So as the days grew closer the more simple my cards have become, tonight is no exclusion to that logic.  On a warm summer day like we had today, I think back to June when I went to the water park to relax and stay cool.  The great memories of summer that will keep me warm in the coming months, but alas I knew I should do an aquatic theme for tonight's remarkable creation.

A constant this summer has definitely been my Silhouette, tonight every piece of the card was cut with my favorite tool.  But before I get to the main feature of the card, let me explain one of the more creative parts of the card.  The green seaweed was stamped in alternating pattern with a stamp meant for flower stems, letting the ink run dry on the stamp also allowed me to freely wave the weeds more accurately.  Moving up on the card the next element is a fish, also made with pieces meant for a flower.  Using a flower I cut with my Silhouette, I removed all petals except for two; to mimic the appearance of tail fins.  Using the pedals from the flower that I had cut off I attached them to the circle.  This gave the look of the other fins, the fish was completed by punching a small heart and putting it on the front right side of the circle for a pair of fishing lips.  Making a small black dot with a fine tip sharpie, my fishy was now able to see and he was completed.  I then made five circles of the same color as my base card, using foam adhesive squares I was able to make four of the five appear 3-D on the card.  The fifth and final circle received a darker blue underlay to emphasize the importance of "Happy Birthday" stamped inside.

I finished the card off with the border on top in darker blue then my overlay.  These half circles give the look of waves at the top of the water.  Now I can go relax with thoughts of days spent relaxing on the boat.  Until next time everyone, happy carding!