Vector birthday card and plate

Rendering vector illustrations in Adobe Illustrator was once, for me, a great source of angst.   Pen tools are tricky little buggers for novice users.  If you're trying to tame one yourself, I promise you, just breathe and relax...  you'll get it.  I actually love working in vector now.  The clean, crisp lines and deliberate choosing of shapes for shadows brought out a whole new happy style and feel that I was unable to attain in other mediums.  All of them have their place though.  For bright happy birthday graphics, vector is magical.