Spot's First Birthday Card

I love the Eric Hill Spot books so of course when I saw the Spot stamp set as a freebie in a magazine, I immediately bought it.  That was many years ago and I finally inked up the stamps and made a 1st Birthday card that will go with a gift set of Spot books.  For the background I chose a balloon print paper from a Doodlebug Design paper pack.  I originally was going to do a raised letter HAPPY BIRTHDAY like what I saw on the Hero Arts site.  However, I only had a script Happy Birthday (My Favorite Things) and when it was cut out the paper turned out to be too busy and the lettering too scripty to make a readable message.  In the end I just cut out three layers of white card stock and one layer of dark blue card stock.  It was difficult to glue them together but I think it looks cool to be raised up.  I slightly shifted the blue layer to give a bit of a shadow effect.  Spot, the small creatures and balloons were stamped, colored with Copic pens, and fussy cut.  The small green hill was cut with a Lawn Fawn die. The balloon strings were difficult to cut so I replaced them with black wire.  All the pieces were adhered with foam dot adhesives.  The ends of the wires were tacked down with glue so they wouldn't injure anyone or get caught on anything.  Gold glitter Stickles gel paint was used on Spot's crown.  Doodlebug Design sticker stars were added to the balloons before being covered with Stickles crystal gel paint. (Perhaps Glossy Accents might have given the balloons a more balloon-like surface...next time.)  Oh yes, I hand printed the 1st on the balloon before adding the gel paint.  Okay, that's it...I think. Please feel free to ask me questions or send comments. (see below). I love hearing from you!