Fun Foam Balloon Medallions

Today's Lesson From The Craft Room:  You Can Still Sing Outside In The Cold!

The temperatures in Denver for the past 2 days have been brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!  When we looked out the window into the backyard it seemed very still this morning.  Usually our backyard is filled with activity - birds and squirrels gathering, burying and eating seeds and nuts.  Surprisingly, even in the freezing cold, it didn't take long for a robin to show up at the bird bath.  Then came the magpies and blue jays, followed by the flickers and sparrows - it was a party AND there was singing!  We started hearing the most beautiful bird songs even in the frigid temperatures.  Looks like the birds have taught me a lesson again - no matter what the weather, it's still worth singing! :)
Today I spent time working on decorations for my niece's upcoming 13th birthday!  The colors are purple and silver.  These medallions are going to be placed on the balloon strings - the strings will be adhered between the 2 medallions.  I found great self-adhesive glittered fun foam at the local craft store and it worked great in the Big Shot!  I love how you can cut so many different materials with the bigz dies in the Big Shot!  I used a combination of dies - the scallops #2 die, the scallop circle die, and the clear circle die.  I punched holes through the card stock with my crop-a-dile and then tied the silver and white ribbon (also from a local craft store).  I will do some more experimenting tomorrow - need to design some treat bags too :)  Stay warm and whether you are inside or out, take a moment to sing :)
I decided to add the card I made for the SCS sketch challenge to this post too...here it is!

 

I began by distressing an old book page by crumpling it and then sponging the edges and the entire crumpled page with a combo of soft suede, chocolate chip and early espresso ink.  I adhered it to the spritzed and sponged crumb cake card stock using tombow mono multi glue so that I would not flatten out the crumpled page.  I stamped images from Define Your Life and Artistic Etchings using chocolate chip ink onto the pink pirouette card stock.  I then cut a piece of ribbon and pulled some of the threads to give it a worn look and then sewed it to the pink pirouette layer with my sewing machine.  I stamped the brad with an image from the Artistic Etchings stamp set using black staz-on ink.  I love how you can customize the large brads this way!  The "amour" was stamped in Early Espresso onto the matchbox die label (1 of 3 labels that are a part of the matchbox die for the Big Shot) and then I distressed and sponged the label and added a small pearl.  I hope you like it!