The Big Top

Welcome to a new week, everyone! Today I'm previewing an acrylic stamp set that will be released this Friday, April 1. How sweet is this circus tent? And the font for the sentiment - adorable! You'll have to wait until Friday to see the rest of the set (unless Korin has more peeks up her sleeve this week), but I'm sure you can guess what the theme of The Big Top is!

For this card I stamped the tent image on Neenah Solar White card stock, and then stamped it twice more on Basic Grey's Infuse patterned paper. I cut out each stripe and alternated them, and then went back and cut the scalloped overhangs off the pieces I didn't use and adhered them on top of the alternating paper. The flag at the top was also paper pieced, and I added a small Martha Stewart pearl at the top of the tent.

My sketch is based on this week's Sweet Stop sketch. To make it work on my card I moved the sentiment up to the corner - hope it is ok that I cheated a bit! I wanted the focus to stay on the paper pieced tent, so I just tied a simple knot in my ribbon and left it at that. I hope you get a chance to play along in the challenge this week too!

What Makes This Card Special:

Stamps: The Big Top

Card Stock: SU Chocolate Chip; Neenah Solar White

Patterned Paper: Basic Grey Infuse

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black; SU Chocolate Chip; Tim Holtz Antique Linen, Brushed Corduroy

Accessories: Nestabilities, Martha Stewart pearl, ribbon

Technique: Paper Piecing

Big Top Easel

The new Circus Digital Stamp Collection got my mind spinning about a pop-up easel card... this was sort of a prototype, and I'm not fully satisfied with my coloring, but I wanted to share it anyway. You can get a basic idea of the concept in the close-ups below - if you're familiar with an easel card, the format is the same, but with anchored images inside that flip up to hold the easel up in place. I'll post more detailed instructions and more photos on my blog.

Coloring was done with Touch Twin markers, and the sentiment is computer-generated (that font is called Ziggy Zoe - isn't that a cute one?) Hope you'll give this cute digi set a try!

Hugs, Dina