'Life is a Circus'.........Well Some of the Time !

Hi everybody ! Toni here with a with a fun project for anyone that enjoys stamping, colouring and stencilling! I've had great time playing with the new Stampers Anonymous, 'Big Top' stamps I received from Kim. So far I've made a birthday card for my son and this little fold out booklet. Initially, I wasn't sure about the stamps as they are quite a departure from what I usually like but I can tell you I absolutely love them ! the images are so playful and cute. I started  by die cutting four arches in manila card and four in Kraft card. I stenciled  red stripes onto each of the manila arches using a home made stencil and Fired Brick Distress Ink. 

I blended some Gathered Twigs Distress Ink onto the edges and Antique Linen over the surface. I then did a bit of 'spritz and flick' and dried the arches with a heat gun. I stamped out the four circus images onto manila card with black Archival Ink and heat embossed them with clear embossing powder. I then coloured them with Pro Markers. I also stamped the elephant in red Archival Ink and cut out his 'blanket' and headdress and adhered these to the elephant I had coloured in.

I then set to with a pair of sharp, fine blade scissors and cut out each of the circus acts. I added dimensional pads to the backs of each shape. This part was quite fiddlesome but worth it. I then adhered each shape to an arch. To enable the circus scene to stand up, I lined up the Kraft card arches and adhered two lengths of ribbon across the width, leaving a slight gap between each one. I then adhered the two sets of arches together.

Here's the finished result. I added some little flock covered beads for the juggler, as well as a stamped 'admit one' ticket.

I also used a fine black pen to create some faux stitching around each panel.

I really enjoyed working on this project and I shall be getting these stamps out again as I have another birthday card to make. I can see they are going to get plenty of use ! x
If you fancy having a go at a project like this, you can pick up many of the supplies I've used from Kim's lovely eclectic Paperie shop. There is even a gorgeous Stripes Stencil by Wendy Vecchi, so you can put that craft knife away! Just click on the thumbnails below and you'll be transported right  to the eclectic Paperie shop.

Tim Holtz (Stampers Anonymous) - Big Top Stamp set	Archival Ink - Jet Black Ink Pad	Ranger Heat It Craft Tool	Ranger - Mini Ink Blending Tool	Wendy Vecchi - Studio 490 - Yikes . . . Stripes Stencil
Distress Ink Pad - Fired Brick	Distress Ink Pad - Antique Linen	Distress Ink Pad - Gathered Twigs	Tim Holtz Alterations - Arch Frame