Card: Invitation - Birthday Balloon

Inspiration: My daughter loves balloons.  When she was around 1 year old, her favorite color was red (now it's yellow though I think it's changing to brown given her comments in the car this evening).  So I thought I'd make her birthday invites a balloon.  I was even able to add a surprise.

How I Make Them: I used a scrapbooking template/stencil for the balloon shape.  I actually used a few different ones so not all the invitations were exactly the same.  I glued the balloon shape to the card but only at the top of the balloon (for the surprise).  After the glue dried, I folded up the balloon and glued a small recent picture of my daughter on the back of the balloon.  On the card, underneath where the balloon lays, I wrote "Hope to see you soon!".  If you look closely at the photo, you can see the 2 small dots that I made to let me know where the limits would be for my writing (I forgot to erase them on this one).  Then I drew a number 1 on the balloon, the string wrapping around the end of the balloon and the string from the balloon.  I wrote "You're invited..." on the outside and put all the details on the inside after "to join in the celebration of 's birthday!".

Alternatives:

• For thank you cards after the party, I did another red balloon using a photo from the party (my daughter about 1/2 way through eating her smash cake), on the outside of the card I wrote Thank You.  On the balloon, I wrote "Peek a boo" and under the balloon I wrote "It was fun to see you!"  Then I wrote a short personalized message inside.
• You can use any number on the balloon.
• I used pictures of my daughter on the thank you card, but it would be even more special to use pictures of the guest or the guest and the celebrant.
• I would also make a nice birthday card (especially with a picture of a much loved pet or friend).