My grandma (aka “Gramma”) turned 86 last week! She’s awesome. To celebrate, my family got together and surprised her with a party. We enjoyed lots of good snack food (including tortellini salad) and delicious birthday cupcakes made by my cousin. I decided for my Grandmother’s birthday, I’d make her a card using my new Silhouette Cameo paper cutting machine.

I started by searching pinterest for inspiration, and when I found a cute cake that inspired me, I set out drawing a similar one up in the Silhouette software.

I cut out the basic card shape (it ended up being about 4″ x 5″), cut some designs for the background, then the cake, and pasted it all together. I used a stamp and black ink for the “surprise” across the top, and then stamped a balloon on the inside where I wrote my message. I used embossing powder to emboss the stamps (to give them a raised appearance and nice gloss) and used a black marker for the balloon strings.

I also made an envelope and stamped some balloons on the front and a little gift box along the seal.

The paper I used for the envelope had a tea-stained quality to it. It was kind of unfortunate where the tea “stain” ended up on the front of the envelope when I cut it, but I think all it all it turned out pretty cute for one of my first go-arounds with the Silhouette. I gave Gram the card with a bouquet of zinnias from my garden. :)

Happy Birthday, Gramma!