Happy Birthday Cricut Explore Card!

Woo Hoo! I am soooo excited :) I just got a Cricut Explore - for a very early birthday gift! and I am having so much fun with it! I had the original Cricut, which still works and which I still use (though admittedly he's a little lonely now that the Explore has some to live with us) along with a Gypsy.  I always figured I could do as much as I needed to with the basics, but I finally gave in to all the bells and whistles. I do love it! I've just been playing with the Design Space over the last week and following some YouTube videos to figure it all out.

I watched a YouTube video by Lorrie Nunemaker and used the writing feature to create this cute birthday card!

I used the silver pen that comes with the Cricut to outline Happy Birthday on the background before layering on the diecut. The Make A Wish sentiment is actually stamped on with a Pretty Cute Stamp image, as I failed to insert my pen far enough into the 'pen holder' before trying to write To You as Lorrie did in her video, lol. The green marker line around the edge was also drawn with the Cricut, using a Crayola marker.

After I diecut the balloons I covered them with Versamark and then used Sticky Stuff embossing powder and clear glitter to add lots of sparkle.  I tied some twine on the base of each balloon and added some Stickles dots to the card base.

I'm so excited to keep playing with my Cricut! I'll be back with more soon ;)

Linked to:
DL Art - Thankful Thursday November Linky Challenge
Sister Act Card Challenge - #82 AG (cards)
613 Avenue Create - #97 AG
Little Scrap Pieces - Show It Off Saturday Nov 8/14
Pile It On - #45 Special Occasion