Birthday fun at the carnival.

I have a confession to make. I love carnivals. Especially at night. There is something about a carnival that gets me all giddy. The food, the rides, the colors, the lights. The combination of it all basically equals F.U.N. Love. It. All.

Lately, I've noticed a new trend to use carnival influenced typography on invitations. And I am in love. So, naturally, in my quest to get inspiration for my next card, I was amazed when I saw this carnival themed wedding.

(photo via Red Heart Photography)

I remember when planning my own wedding, my main goal was for everyone to have fun. How could anyone not have fun at a wedding like this?? I think I need to have another wedding. Or, can someone please have a carnival themed wedding and invite me?? Check out more pics of this crazy cool wedding here.

Although I had plenty of inspiration, I couldn't finish this card for the life of me. I tried out several ideas (even soliciting the help of a friend and her Cricut) and all of them fell flat. I kind of lost my mojo with this one, but I am glad I worked thru it once I realized the irony of the whole situation. I was taking the whole carnival concept too seriously when the whole concept of a carnival is supposed to be about having fun.

Anyway, I made this card for my sister. I really wanted it to be perfect and I really wanted her to love it (and keep it). I hope she does.

I drew out the clouds and the red frame and cut them out using an xacto knife. I cut yellow paper strips to 1/4" to make the stripes. The stars are from a punch I bought at the Target $1 spot. I used a white Signo gel pen to draw the circles, hoping to give the illusion of lights. I also drew the black flourishes with just a fine pointed black pen on the stripes as well as on the lights. The letters are from Making Memories. All the cardstock is Bazzill. Below is just a close up of the details. Don't ask me why my camera suddenly takes a good close up.


I added some pop up glue dots to give the card some dimension. So some clouds are raised some are flush with the 'sky' and, of course, the entire sign is raised higher than any of the clouds.


Since we are twins, I can't use the excuse that I forgot about my sister's birthday. I kind of dropped the ball on sending this out to her on time. But, my sister knows me and knows I won't send something I'm not happy with. So, sorry, Seester. I hope it was worth the wait. :)

Update: Apparently, Iowa is where cute cards go to die because my sister said the card arrived like it barely survived a battle with the postman . Sorry, Seester. Can we have a moment of silence?