Bugaboo Stamps: Monster Birthday | Sign It

In much the same way as my last tutorial, today's tutorial was CASE'd (See my PSSS below.) from the card that a really great gal made at the Austin shoe box swap on 10/08/2011.

Thank you Karen Van De Walle
of Texas Chattin' Bunny Rescuin' Softie Stamper!!!

(Some of you may know her as gamblemom on SCS.)

Ask her about Sugar. . .She loves Sugar. . .;)

Inky Antics has a line of acrylic stamp sets that they created expressly for use with their Honeycomb Paper Pads. However, being both diabolically-minded and cheap, I thought that I might be able to create the same effect using a simple, symmetrical digital image as a template instead of a stamp. . .And that's how I ended up choosing the balloon on Bugaboo Stamps' Birthday Monster | Sign It. Well that and because Karen's card featured a balloon too (See my PSSS. below.). . ;)

Step 1: I really do wish that I could give you the steps that I took to get to this point, but it was all trial-and-error. I suppose that I could have used math to get the exact dimensions that I needed wasting less toner and card stock in the process (See my PSSS below.), but I didn't. Anyway, the goal was to print the image so that the balloon was centered on the page because I wanted the fold to go directly down the middle of it. Now, about the fold. . . I actually scored two lines about an 1/8th of an inch apart because honeycomb paper is thick, and I still wanted my card to  fold neatly.

Step 2: I printed the same image a second time, and then I (or rather my hirsute husband, Lance) cut out the balloon and then folded it in half.   

Step 3:  Lance lightly traced the template (Remember to fold it in half first!) with a pencil onto the honeycomb paper, and then cut it out. As I was writing this tutorial I realized that I probably could have done this much more easily by simply die-cutting half of a circle. . .DOH!!!

Step 4: Then I spread the honeycomb paper out over the balloon adhering each side with a glue dot. When I closed the card, the honeycomb paper wedged neatly within the 1/8th-inch groove that I scored in Step 1.

Step 5: I decorated the outside simply to give the inside the card a little extra oomph.

Step 6: And then I opened it. . .Ta-da!!!

PS. Why a black balloon? Because I'd originally intended to use the cauldron on Bugaboo Stamps' Stella Witch | Instant Witch.

PSS. I'd hoped to have some more photos, but my temperamental hand model insisted, "Modeling's hard work. If you want me to continue you're going to either give me money, sex, or smack." The things (Oh the things!) that I do for my followers. . .;)

PSSS. I haven't figure out yet whether I'm terribly lazy or ridiculously unoriginal. . .Thoughts???

Supplies: Bugaboo Stamps image, Stampin' Up! card stock, ??? card stock, American Crafts designer paper, Inky Antics Honeycomb Paper Pad, Copic markers, Prismacolor markers, Mark Richards embellishments, and Penny Black sentiment.