Welcome to another Messy Monday (please excuse some of the lighting in my pictures recently, it should be back to normal by next post)! Today I will be sharing with you a card inspired by a MFT Sketch challenge. I turned the sketch sideways so I could make a horizontal birthday card, so let's get started!

First, I made a top folding A2 card base out of some white card stock and then scored two lines on the inside of the front panel for added dimension. It's hard to see in the picture, but the strip of color is encased inside the two "popped" up lines. I like how something so simple can add such an interesting but subtle detail to the card.

Next, I used post it notes to mask off the top and bottom portions of the card, leaving only the middle portion (the part between the scored lines!) open. I used various blue inks (Tim Holtz, Simon Says Stamp, Lawn Fawn) to make a gradation of colored stripes. I used 2 additional post-its to mask off each stripe as I blended in different colors. After this was done, I colored in a cute astronaut bear from Mama Elephant Space Bears set using my copics (W1, W3, W5), and die cut it out. The sentiments were stamped from Mama Elephant Labeled messages and fussy cut out. I adhered all of these onto the card using some foam squares, so it would add extra dimension. For my finishing touches, I used my Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle Brush pen to add some shimmer to my background and the balloon the bear is holding.

Hope you enjoyed!
Happy Crafting.