weekend tutorial - balloon birthday card

i wanted to share some card ideas with you by way of a tutorial.
i made a similar birthday card to this one recently for a friend and it is really simple to create. it incorporates vintage papers but you can really use whatever papers or card colours you like. i hope you enjoy it!

what you will need -
1. vintage papers from old books (or whatever style papers you like) i used a 1970's floral book page
2. some card about 4 x 4 inches (10 x 10 cms)
3. a piece of stiff card about 3 x 3 inches (7.5 x 7.5 cms)
4. 3D foam dots
5. double sided tape
6. 15 x 10cms card and a matching envelope
7. happy birthday text (see instructions below for details)
8. 3 different colours of cotton thread
9. scissors * please note you will also need some pva glue too

1. cut out a balloon shape from the stiff card about 4.5 x 3 cms in size
2. using the balloon shape as a template, draw 3 balloons onto your vintage paper - being careful to only draw on the side you do not want to show (ie. reverse side)
3.cut out your shapes and then apply some pva glue to the backs (reverse side) and then glue them onto the other piece of card
4. once dry cut out your balloon shapes from the card

5. cut out one length of about 30cms from each of your thread colours
6. take one of your balloon shapes and twist the end of the thread around the bottom of the balloon three times leaving a small length at the back of the balloon
7. apply the double sided tape to the back of the balloon making sure to cover all areas of the thread
8. turn your balloon over and check that there is no tape showing on the other side - repeat with the other 2 balloons using a different colour thread for each balloon

9. on your computer or if you have a typewriter, create some 'happy birthday' text. i have a typewriter so i did mine on that but if you want a similar font from the computer you can use courier or typical writer. use around a size 9 font and print it onto some thin card. cut it out about 5 x 1.5 cms. then cut out a 6 x 2cms piece of the vintage paper and stick the happy birthday text onto it with the double sided tape so you have a matted effect (you can also just use the text alone if you like)
10. lay your matted text piece and your balloons onto the card and decide how you would like them all to be positioned
11. apply 3 sticky foam dots onto the backs of the balloons and attach them to the card. then attach the text piece over the threads making sure to pull them slightly taught. once attached snip of the ends of the thread so that they finish at the bottom of the card.
12. i used a translucent envelope as i love the effect it creates once the card is inside. i got mine from here but if you are not in Europe you could use large glassine bags from here.

i hope you enjoyed my first tutorial - if you have any questions or comments please let me know and, have a great weekend :)