Happy Birthday from the Circus Animals

Hello Scrapping Cottage friends! Thanks for taking the time to stop and visit with us today. It's Mary Marsh here bringing you the Saturday edition of the Blog.

We have a brand new release of dies in the online store. Your slimline cardmaking is going to get a lot easier. We have 9 Slimline designs and they are on a 25% off sale. These are wonderful, basic dies that should be a part of every card maker's collection especially if you are liking the new slimline style.

Today for your viewing pleasure I have a slimline birthday card using the Circus Train Animal dies + the Scalloped Stitched Rectangle Slimline die. 

I have a lot of nieces and nephews with young ones and I always seem to need a kids birthday card. These animals are perfect for a kids card. So let's get started on some details of how I created my card.

Design Steps:

I started my card this week with the layout. I saw this sketch #854 on Splitcoaststampers and I thought the layout would work well for the dies I am using. 

Next, I selected the background designer paper. I wanted something fun and found this bright dotted paper.

I cut it with the largest Scalloped Stitched Rectangle Slimline (3 1/4" x 8 1/4") die. The card base is at 6 1/2" x 8 1/4" and then scored at 3 1/4". I used pacific point cardstock (royal blue) cardstock. 

Then, I cut my animal images. The designer paper colors of blue, rose red and yellow would work for the hats and neck scarves the circus animals are wearing. I used different colors of cardstock to cut the animals. You could also cut in white and color with any medium you like i.e. Copic markers, Prismacolors pencils or distress inks. I forgot to take a photo of this step (lol)!

For element 3 of the sketch I used the largest Scalloped Circle die and then cut a portion off the bottom to give it a straight edge. I stamped my sentiment in pacific point ink. It's a long one line sentiment but with the help of my MISTI, I stamped on 2 lines. 

I started the assembly of my card. For element 2 of the sketch I cut another piece of pacific point designer paper 1" x 8", I attached the circle with double sided tape and then secured to the designer paper panel.  

Then I attached three of the Circus Animals in the circle using dimensional adhesive. The seal is attached in the corner for element 4 of the sketch. Instead of him balancing a ball, I have him holding a balloon. It's cut from the Clown with Balloons die. 

To finish off my card, I attached the image panel to the card base with double sided tape. For the 2nd  instance of element 4, I cut a spray of stars from the Circus Side Show die and attached to the right corner. I thought the middle looked empty so I added some rose red enamel dots. 

And that's it for me for this week. I will be back on Tuesday for our Throwback Tuesday post. See you then.

Dies I used to create card:

  

Show Time

Hi!

It's Anja here for my Throwback Tuesday post. I have a lot of Circus dies I haven't had the opurtunity to try so I decided to use this and combined it with slimline dies. This is the final result.

For this card I used:

- Cottage Cutz dies (Circus Train Animals, Circus Signs, Lift Flaps Stitched Rectangle Slimline, Windows Slimline, Hills Slimline),

- Distress Inks,

- white card base (10x21 cm),

-patterned paper for background (9,5x21 cm) and die cuts,

- red card stock for background (8,5x21 cm),

- white card stock for die cuts,

- scissors,

- paper glue. 

 

First I cut and colored all three animals and the signs. Then I die cut the lift flaps from patterned paper. I also used one of the hills dies to put inside of the flap lifts for the ground. I also trimmed patterned and red card stock for the background. When I had all the pieces ready I glued it on the card base. Last I added the animals in all three windows. And my card was done.

And that's all from me for today. Have a nice week and see you again on Sunday. 

Anja Z.

 

Cottage Cutz dies I used:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Birthday

Hello!  This is Sukie I have another card to share this week. I'm loving the versatility of the new Circus die release.  I created a simple birthday card which would be perfect for a younger child.

I cut out the Circus Train, the bear from the Circus Train Animals and the stars from the Circus Side Show die set.  I went with a cheerful color theme for my die cuts coordinating the colors to the background papers.

I found the star paper in my stash and paired it with a striped panel.  A simple Happy Birthday sentiment was stamped in the corner.

The Circus Train was placed along the edge of the striped paper which helped to align it.  The sweet bear was placed inside the cage with his eyes peeking out.  I added some solid white card stock behind him, it keeps him from blending into the patterned background.

The cluster of stars were affixed above the sentiment.  The extra stars were adhered to the left of the sentiment.

The stars around the sentiment were a fun finishing accent as they coordinate perfectly with the patterned paper!

Here are the die set used on my card, available in the store:

Welcome Circus Train

Happy Friday!  It's Jeanne today with a fun slimline baby card.  The Circus Train and Circus Train Animals are a marvelous way to welcome a little one.  This train would also make a wonderful invitation to a child's birthday party. And the 8 1/2 x 3 1/2 format of a slimline card is the perfect format for the train!

I wanted this card to be bright, yet somewhat soft in color since it's a baby card.

I looked through my paper and found some perfect patterns in the tones I had in mind.  I keep two reference notebooks of paper samples and this helps enormously in picking out patters and colors.  I have two posts on my blog (here and here) about how I organize them.

I cut the pieces for the train and animals from various colors of the cardstock.  I made sure to choose the seal and elephant for my animals since the paper has gray in it.

This is a card where everything needs to be aligned.  I have some tips on how I did this.

To get the wheels straight when assembling the engine and train cars I made sure to align the top of the horizontal spoke with the bottom of the car and the vertical spoke with the inside edge of the cage.  This works for all wheels but the small one in front.  That will be added once the engine is on the card.

I also glued the animals to the cage before putting them on the card so I could better align their faces with the bars.  They are very slightly off center but I wanted the eyes to show!

 

Next I cut my panels and adhered them together.

I aligned all the train pieces on the card and placed a light pencil mark over the center of the curlicue on each piece so I would know exactly where to glue them.  Then I glued down the engine, the connecting piece and the bottom of the middle train car.

I had not yet adhered the ball to the seal's nose as I wanted it to be "balancing".  It needed to be just touching the nose not glued to it.  Once the train car was in place I used tweezers to insert and glue down the ball.  Then I adhered the top and the rest of the train.

To align the front wheel I used a ruler to get it even with the other wheels.

 

My final step was to create my sentiment and some fun banners for the front.  I simply cut strips, fishtailed the ends and used a few enamel dots.

I hope you have enjoyed my card.  Please be sure to visit the online store where the new Circus dies are on sale for a limited time!

 Dies used:

Thanks for visiting today.  I hope you have a fun and creative weekend!