Thank you ladies so much for this!! What a fun exercise!!! I did try everyone's critiques and played around with them. And believe it or not (although I think looking at the whole design the changes are very subtle) I did change alot. And it really does change the feel of the layout. (I know blah, blah, blah get to the layout.) Here it is:
Original (just so you don't have to scroll like crazy):
and the final:
I could be mean and make this a find what's different game, but instead I'll just list the changes.
1. Birthday smaller and under rock. (Although I tried a smaller rock, I decided rocks way more and the layout is more about what we did for her birthday.)
2. Heavier shadow on rock. (Thank you Peppermint for the shadow suggestions. Unfortunately I'm using PSE 7, which shadowing totally sucks on, so I just went distance further and softer. Still not sure I like? (but I wasn't happy with the old one either.)
3. Yellow balloon smaller, moved down, and to the side a little. (I think this makes the yellow stand out.)
4. Moved the confetti and stars around a bit. The flow is suppose to be a side to side with a subtle corner to corner for added interest. I realized I needed to make the flow more obvious.
5. Changed the color of her shirt. I hear you on the blue clashing. I tried to change it to a red or yellow to match the accent colors, but I'm not that good at selecting through hair. So I stuck to a color close to the original blue so the change wasn't obvious when (if???) I ever print it out.
Again thanks!! I loved seeing other's approach and perspective!!