Come Fly Away With Me

I made this card for my brother's birthday last year. He's younger than me by five years, so I still think of him as my kid brother, despite the fact that he turned 26! I thought he would enjoy a fun monkey card:

My brother's favorite stuffed animal when he was a kid was a funny monkey (whose name was Monkey - original, I know), so I think that's why I subconsciously think of him when I see monkey things.

The monkey stamp is made by a company called Hero Arts. I colored it in with colored pencils. The balloons are punched out from a paper punch I got from Michael's. I only had construction paper (as opposed to cardstock) in primary colors at the time, so the ballooon punchouts are less crisp than I would have liked. I used a piece of puffy foam tape to make the red balloon stand out and tied a silver string to it.

I considered stamping clouds all over so that there would be no mistake - that monkey is flllllllyin'! But I refrained since I was afraid it would make the card look too busy. (I made up for it, though, on another card that I'll post about!)

I can think of so many things to do with that little monkey! I'm thinking of maybe making it a tradition to give my brother a birthday card every year with Joe hanging off (or hanging onto) something...

Yep, I named the monkey.