Adventure is Out There!

Adventure is out there!

For mine and my boyfriend's three year anniversary, I waited until the week of to decide what kind of card I was going to make for him. I love making homemade cards! I think they're more meaningful and it's a ton of fun for me! I searched on Pinterest for inspiration and found an idea inspired by the movie UP! I love that movie! The idea I found was going to be adapted into a card. This project only took me a couple days, but probably would have only taken a few hours if I had everything organized and I stayed focused. 

Who doesn't love this movie?

Materials

2 8x8 sheets of light blue cardstock paper

A bag o' buttons (I chose the pastel bag)

Mod podge

Brush for mod podge (I used a small foam one)

Glue dots (I used the pop up 1/8" thick and the regular ultra thins)

Cotton floss

Scissors

Pen/Marker of your choice

Scrap paper for your little house

All of these can be found at Hobby Lobby, of course :)

Don't forget to use the 40% off coupon on their website for anything that's not on sale!

Step 1

This is a big card! In order to make it so I had enough room for the balloon, I used the 8x8. The second piece of 8x8 should be folded along one edge about 1 centimeter. I glued the folded edge on the first piece of light blue. For the inside of the card where I would be writing, I flipped it to the smooth side. The textured side is more difficult to write on, but I liked the textured side for the front of the card.

Step 2

After the glue dried, I began laying out the outline for the balloon. I redid this step several times just to find the right shape I wanted. 

Making the outline of the balloon
I like to work on my floor. I don't really know why, but I feel more creative that way.
I sit on a yoga mat so my butt doesn't fall asleep. :)

Step 3

With the size of the balloon in mind, I wanted to cut out a little house that would allow enough room for writing underneath as well as enough room above to show enough of the string. I cut up pieces from scrap paper I had laying around. I wanted a house that looked simple and added to the playful feel of the card. I used an index card to use as a template to get an idea of the size of my house. I decided to cut the pink piece to 3x4 centimeters. I made the top triangle piece about 3.5 centimeters. I also cut a little piece for a chimney. 

The little house!

Step 4

Time to glue down those buttons! This part made me nervous because I was afraid the buttons would shift a lot and the shape would get messed up, but it really didn't! I started from the top and worked my way around one little button at a time. I did not glue the bottom 5! Mod podge is excellent because it works well and it dries clear, so although some of the mod podge was seeping through the holes of the buttons, it dried clear and you would never know! 

The next part of gluing the buttons is gluing the inside buttons. I arranged and rearranged them several times throughout the process, but fortunately with the bag o' buttons, there are tons of options! I glued top to bottom for the inside buttons as well. I tried to get as tight of a fit as I could and tried to use varied sizes to add to the playfulness of the card.

The inside buttons were like a puzzle!

Step 5

String cutting! I used a couple different colors that matched the buttons. I cut the strings (cotton floss) to no particular length because I was going to trim what I didn't need. I rubbed mod podge on the ends to keep them from fraying while I worked with them. After the ends were dry, I began gluing the strings to their designated buttons. I glued the string to as much of the button as I could in order for the string to have the strongest bond. I avoided crossing the string over the button holes. 

Step 6

I chose to hand-write the phrase across the bottom of the card as opposed to using stickers. I practiced over and over before I decided to just dive in and do it. I wrote "Adventure is out there!" on an index card, cut it out, and placed it right above where I wanted to write it on the card so I knew where it was centered and what it may look like. I was nervous about this part too because if I messed it up, all the buttons would be for nothing and I'd have to start over. Luckily, it turned out better than I expected. Cardstock can be difficult to write on on the textured surface, but I like cardstock because of it's sturdiness. 

Placement of the phrase with the index card

Step 7

Things are starting to come together! I glued the outside string buttons first. I angled the outer ones inward as seen in the picture. The next thing I did to make it easy on myself (those strings didn't cooperate the way I wanted them to!), I put a single ultra thin glue dot right where I wanted to glue the house. I used the ultra thin dot to hold the string in place. With this part, I started with the middle string. I made sure to pull the strings tight to make it look neat! I trimmed the excess string and after they were all placed on the glue dot, I secured them with a dab of mod podge.

Pulling the strings to the glue dot!

The strings are all in!

Mod Podge security!
I trimmed the strings.
Also, notice the outer buttons
are tilted inward.

Step 8

After allowing the dab of mod podge to dry, I was ready to glue down the little house. Since the string created a small bump, I didn't want to directly glue the house on them. I used the pop-up glue dots instead. I put a glue dot on each corner of the pink piece and carefully placed the house above the strings.

All done! Time to write the sweet sappy love stuff inside! 

UP picture: http://www.baberlyloveshunry.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/up-movie-disney-pixar.jpg