Welcome back to another Inkreators Blog Hop. If you’ve arrived here from Lauren at Love Life Lauren then I’m sure you’ve already been treated to a dose of inspiration.  If you’re starting here with me then hello I hope you enjoy this month’s blog hop.

I have to say I was quite excited when I discovered the theme for this month’s hop- Balloons.  Now who doesn’t love a balloon! There is definitely something magical that happens when you hold a balloon and then let it go and watch it fly away into the sky.

Choosing a stamp set was a bit of a challenge the current Occasions Catalogue has some gorgeous sets featuring balloons.  I finally settled on two – Balloon Builder and Balloon Celebration.  I have to admit I wasn’t a fan of the Balloon Builder set when I first received it.  Other than the obvious balloon shapes all the rest seemed to be just a bunch of odd shapes I couldn’t imagine using. However with a bit of imagination and lots of inspiration from Pinterest I’ve grown quite fond of all the cutesy animals you can create with those “odd” shapes.

My first card today features a balloon animal inspired by the “Easter Bunny” but as Easter has come and gone (and so has all my chocolate) I decided the soft pink bunny would work perfectly on a baby card.  I used both the small and large balloons to create the bunny body and the small bean shaped one for his feet. The soft pastel inks Blushing Bride and Mint Macaron will work for either boys or girls.  I’ve used the Layered Letters set to spell out the word “BABY” on four balloons punched from the new balloon builder punch.

My second card today has the cutest cuddly balloon bear holding tight to a bunch of pink balloons.  These balloons come from the Balloon Celebration set and are stamped in directly onto a card base of “thick” white cardstock.  A small strip of patterned hearts dsp from the ……… stack adds a layer and some dimension to an otherwise one layer card.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my projects today and are inspired to create your own range of “balloon animals”.  From here you can hop on over to the wonderfully talented Liv Ingle at  Inkreations for some more balloon magic.  I’m sure she has something gorgeous in store for you.

Until next time – Happy Stamping.

Michelle x