So I got the opportunity to make a 90th birthday card for a special Papa. He is a retired farmer who had a soft spot for horses so I thought creating a card with Cocoa the Horse would brighten his day.
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The cardstock used in today’s card is from Stampin’ Up and the colours are Baja Breeze, Granny Apple Green, Crushed Curry, Going Grey, Chocolate Chip, Real Red, Early Espresso, Basic Black and a little bit of Whisper White. The cloud paper is also from Stampin’ Up. The green patterned paper is from a combo Costco pack.
The star of today’s card is Cocoa the Horse and he was created by using the “Cocoa the Horse” die set from Karen Burniston.
To create this explosion card I used the “Explosion Pop up” die set from Karen Burniston and followed these directions https://youtu.be/FX4x_5mrslU
I wanted the sky to fill the frame a little more so I put the side explosion sections on first then I cut the cloud designer paper to fit in to cover the edges of the explosion sides.
I decided that I wanted the haystack (on the inside) to pop out so first I made an insert for the card (measuring to fit between the explosion sides, and so the bottom would line up with the bottom end of the explosion sides) then I made a very basic pop up box by cutting two cuts into the folded cardstock approximately 1″, then I folded the cardstock where the cut lines end up, I folded them up and down to create score lines then I popped it through to make a box (see pic below). I used a cloud edge to cut the top edge to make it look like hills then I adhered it into the card. 
For the bottom section of the card, I used the same patterned paper that I used for the Explosion sides measured to fit over the edges of the explosion pieces (same as the sky) and I used the cloud edge die to cut the top off again so it would match the edge above.
The bale of hay and the pitchfork were also created by using dies from Karen Burniston. I adhered the bale of hay to the front of the pop-up box and adhered the horse right to the card using Stampin’ Dimensionls.
The Birthday greeting on the inside is from my stash as was the 90 shaped balloons which I cut out with Real Red cardstock (garage sale purchase), I adhered the 90 with Stampin dimensionals and carefully tied some twine to the ends and ran the twine so it looked like the horse was holding the balloons. The party hat on Cocoa was an afterthought and was added after the card was complete (the hat is also a Karen Burniston die). I added a little glue to where the twine is tied to the balloon and also where the twine overlaps on the horse to help keep it from falling off
The outside was created by using a die cut from the original hay bale that I ran through my Scan n Cut and enlarged it, and cut it out of Crushed Curry cardstock, and added the detail with a marker. The smaller tufts around the pitchfork were cut using the die and are the actual size. The pitchfork was enlarged the same way. The bale of hay and the pitchfork were adhered using Stampin Dimensionals and the Stampin up double-sided foam strips. The green paper is the same as the paper on the inside and the Granny Apple green cardstock was cut to fit then the top was cut with the same cloud edge die so it ties in with the inside. The words were cut out using an alphabet die set.
My Messy Craft Room 
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