Hippo Hooray...

I know, I know. Hippos are usually happiest sitting in water and covered with mud, but this one is celebrating his birthday among the ferns of a jungle miraculously located somewhere in sub-Saharan Africa.

I had two birds to take care of with one stone (if you don't count the one on the banner.) One, my dad's birthday is next week and, two, Paper Smooches has a Color Challenge going on over on their SPARKS blog. The colors are a peanut butter and jelly throwdown of sorts. A bit of challenge on a jungle card but I made the ferns a little parched so they're yellowing. (Remember the rock and roll technique of adding color to the outsides of your stamp by rolling the edges around a darker color... well, that was what I tried to accomplish with the ferns...)

The design of the card was inspired by a Hallmark card that hubby got for Fathers' Day. The stamped image is on a separate folded card that attaches to the base under the red margin. Pretty cool.

I used Zoo Crew for the happy hippo, ferns and sentiment and Pip Squeaks for the banner string and little bird. I cut the pennants by hand and just added handwritten letters to each.

Thanks for stopping by. Next up, a baby card for my niece that is due to give birth any day now.

Back to the hippo party.... see ya later!