Category: Zany Zoo

Retiring · Zany Zoo

Something Great

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We’re rounding out this week with our zoo pals at the theatre. Before my son was born, I spent quite a bit of time in theatres in my area performing opera, musical theatre, and sacred music. There’s nothing quite like the feeling of being onstage, and I’ve been pleased to be able to return to some singing over the last year.

Today’s card actually combines two card designs that I saved in my inspiration folder quite some time ago. And I decided to combine them by using the barn fold fun fold to build the drama of waiting for the curtains to open and then starting the show.

We start with a base of Basic White cardstock. The standard sized base is scored so that there are two equal sized flaps serving as the card front, which creates the barn fold. A piece of Lemon Lolly cardstock and a strip of Basic Black serve as the background. Using the Zany Zoo dies, I diecut curtain panels from Pool Party cardstock. The curtain tie backs are cut from Distressed Gold specialty paper using the tie back die. The chairs are cut from Real Red using the base of the llama die. The silhouettes of the audience members are diecut from Basic Black using the llama and ballerina dies. The canned lights are diecut from black using the vase die and strips of vellum serve as light beams pointing to the sentiment in the center. The sentiment from Zany Zoo is stamped on white cardstock and then diecut using the Hot Air Balloon dies. The sentiment panel is adhered to the left panel of the card front using dimensionals.

The interior scene has another set of Pool Party curtain panels. The sentiment from Something Fancy is stamped in black on the center panel. The stage floor panels are diecut from Crumb Cake cardstock using the Filled With Fun wagon panels that I cut apart using paper snips. The base of the stage is a strip of black cardstock. The spotlight coming down center stage is a strip of gold vellum. The adorable ballerina is diecut from the Zoo Crew designer paper using the coordinating dies. I’ve placed her on a double layer of dimensionals to ensure she stands above the scene and really catches the eye. Things are finished off with some glitter sequins to reinforce the *magic* of the scene.

I’ve had a lot of fun taking our zoo friends on adventures this week, and I hope you’ve enjoyed tagging along! I’ll be taking a few days off next week to be with my hubby in the hospital. But I’ll be back with some more crafting goodness soon!

Products used in today’s card:
Pool Party, Crumb Cake, Real Red, Lemon Lolly, Basic Black, Basic White, vellum cardstock
Zoo Crew, Distressed Gold DSP
Something Fancy, Zany Zoo stamps
Zany Zoo, Hot Air Balloon, Filled With Fun dies
Glitter sequins
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Retiring · Zany Zoo

Celebrate with Confetti

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Thanks for joining me today for another Zoo Crew adventure. This week, we’ve been following along as the members of the Zany Zoo have taken their turns in the spotlight before they bid adieu one final time as the 2023-24 Annual Catalog retires. Today, we get to tag along with the birthday puppers as he celebrates a special someone’s big day.

The fun fold card is known as a double flap fold-over or flip top fun fold. I first learned this fold from fellow Stampin’ Up! demo Jackie Bolhuis over at Klompen Stampers. This fold is great when you have designer paper you’d like to showcase or perhaps multiple images you want to display in one card design. For this particular card design, I wanted to highlight the fun patterns on the backs of the Zoo Crew designer paper.

We get started with a standard base of Pool Party cardstock. I cut the black herringbone pattern so that there’s a quarter-inch border around each edge. For the fold-over portion, I chose a piece of Lost Lagoon cardstock. Most of the sheet serves as the front fold-over panel. I elected to have a one-inch portion serve as the anchor on the inside of the card base, which is covered by the message panel. The fold-over panel is covered with the white polka dot pattern for a nice contrast of dark and light. The focal image panel is a piece of Pretty Peacock soft shimmer paper that is diecut using the Perennial Postage dies. The cute puppers is fussy cut from the sheet of Zoo Crew designer paper and mounted on dimensionals. The sentiment from the Unbounded Love stamp set (coming soon!) is stamped on white cardstock and diecut using the Everyday Details dies. I added an extra layer of dimensionals to adhere the sentiment to ensure it stands out against the busy background. A twist of Pool Party crinkle ribbon and a few adhesive-backed glitter sequins finish things off nicely.

I hope you’ll pop in tomorrow to check out a fun way to use those Zany Zoo dies!

Products used in today’s card:
Pool Party, Lost Lagoon, Basic White cardstock
Zoo Crew, soft shimmer DSP
Unbounded Love stamps (coming soon!)
Pool Party crinkle ribbon (retired)
Glitter sequins (retired)
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Retiring · Zany Zoo

S’more For You

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We’re tagging along with the Zoo Crew this week as they take a few more adventures before retiring with the 2023-24 Annual Catalog. I’m going to miss these guys! The stamps and designer papers have offered so many fun design opportunities.

Today’s card has us gathering with friends around a campfire. We get started with a base of Pretty Peacock cardstock. The focal section of the card consists of a background of two patterns of designer series paper — Inked Botanicals and Bright & Beautiful — and a piece of white cardstock. Using the outdoor adventure sheet of the Zoo Crew designer series paper, I fussy cut several characters, as well as groups of trees and several mountain ranges, to build this scene. Dimensionals help give the scene depth. The sentiment from Charming Sentiments is stamped on Lemon Lime Twist and diecut with the Zany Zoo banner die. A strip of the ribbon duo tied off with linen thread, along with the bits of sparkle from the sequins, tinsel gems, and glitter sequins, finish things off by moving the eye across the design.

Tune in tomorrow to see what our zoo friends get up to next!

Products used in today’s card:
Pretty Peacock, Lemon Lime Twist, Basic White cardstock
Zoo Crew, Inked Botanicals, Bright & Beautiful DSP
Charming Sentiments stamps
Ribbon duo, linen thread
Pastel sequins, Tinsel gems, Glitter sequins (retired)
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Retiring · Zany Zoo

Hooray for Birthdays

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This week, the Zoo Crew is taking us on one last adventure before they retire with the 2023-24 Annual Stampin’ Up! Catalog. These guys are so easy to incorporate into designs. I’m still a little surprised that this crew of adorable critters isn’t carrying over into the new catalog! Maybe we can all petition for them to stay on as Online Exclusives. *grin*

Today, the fox is riding in to bring some birthday wishes. We get started with a base of Lost Lagoon cardstock. The background panel is a piece of the Zoo Crew designer series paper cut so that there is a half-inch border on either side. Our cute fox is punched from the DSP using the Decorative Circle punch and matted with a slightly larger plain circle punched from a different sheet of the DSP. Both are then matted on a piece of the Lost Lagoon soft shimmer paper that has been punched with the 2 3/8-inch circle. The sentiment from Hot Air Balloon is stamped on white cardstock and then diecut with the Nested Essentials dies using the extension method, which gives just a smidge of added length to the banner to allow for the whole sentiment. I tied some Lost Lagoon bordered ribbon around the card and tucked it behind the focal image panel and then added some rainbow adhesive-backed dots to create a visual triangle between the focal image and sentiment.

Today’s layout is inspired by my upline and Luv 2 Stamp team leader Patty Bennett. One of the things I love about this card layout is how quickly everything comes together. This is a go-to in my sketch book. Do you have any go-to layout favorites?

I hope you’ll join me tomorrow for another wild Zoo Crew adventure!

Products used in today’s card:
Lost Lagoon, Basic White cardstock
Zoo Crew, soft shimmer DSP
Hot Air Balloon stamps
Decorative circle, 2 3/8” circle punch
Nested Essentials dies
Lost Lagoon bordered ribbon
Rainbow adhesive-backed dots
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Retiring · Zany Zoo

Zany Celebration

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This week, we’re headed into the wild with the Zoo Crew. The Zany Zoo suite will be retiring with the current catalog, and I’m just a little sad about it. I love all of these fun critters and all of the many adventures they’ve had. So we’re tagging along for one last ride before the 2023-24 Annual Catalog retires.

What better way to celebrate a birthday than with a juggling koala?! Today’s fun fold card begins with a base of Granny Apple Green cardstock. The Zoo Crew designer paper provides our neutral black and white base panels, as well as our main character on the focal panel. The focal panel consists of a small panel of white cardstock, along with two circles punched from Bright & Beautiful and Hello Irresistible designer paper packs. The sentiment from Something Fancy is stamped on white cardstock and then cut with paper snips into a banner. A small strip of More Dazzle specialty paper adds some sparkle. The koala is elevated on dimensionals to ensure it stands above the scene and draws the eye to the action. The iridescent discs bring the eye to our focal panel and add some visual interest.

Tune in tomorrow to see what our zoo friends get up to!

Products used in today’s card:
Granny Apple Green, Basic White cardstock
Zoo Crew, More Dazzle, Hello Irresistible, Bright & Beautiful DSP
Something Fancy stamps
Circle punch
Iridescent discs
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Dies · Shop the catalog · Zany Zoo

Zany Zoo Diagonal Fun Fold

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Howdy and happy Monday everyone! I hope you enjoyed the weekend and maybe a festivity or two for Father’s Day. Today, I’m bringing you another fun card design using the Zany Zoo Suite and a diagonal fun fold shared over at Klompen Stampers.

What I love about this particular fun fold design is that it is so easy and it makes TWO cards at one time. How about that for efficiency?! For this first design, I used the sing-along sheet of designer paper from the Zoo Crew pack to create a cute birthday card.

The base is Pool Party and the diagonal design is cut by marking the cardstock at 3” down/up on the short edge of both sides of the paper and then cutting a straight line between the two marks. Score one half at 3” and 6.75” and then fold to create the panels. The outward-facing panels are 2.75” wide, 3.25” wide, and 4” wide.

For this first design, I chose DSP for the front panel and diecut and popped up the singing turtle for effect. I chose a complimentary DSP from the Zoo Crew pack for the outward-facing center panel. I prefer to have the center inside panel be blank for a personal message and selected white for the message panel. I built a concert scene for the inside back panel using Pool Party, DSP, and black cardstock. I fussy cut the frog from the sing-along sheet and used lots of dimensionals for a more realistic look.

Using the second card base, I created this fun little Hello notecard. I used the dies to cut the crocheting llama from the arts & crafts sheet from the Zoo Crew paper pack. I punched a circle from Melon Mambo cardstock to use as the base under the llama. To complete the scene, I diecut the table, vase, and flowers using the Zany Zoo dies. I used a portion of a sentiment from the Pansy Patch stamp set and cut a banner strip from white paper. This entire scene is popped up on dimensionals for added drama and realism. The outward-facing center panel is a scrap of sing along sheet and finished with Petal Pink duo ribbon. I kept the very back panel very simple with black cardstock, a strip of champagne dazzle specialty paper, and a simple HELLO diecut using the Alphabet a la Mode set and cut from Melon Mambo cardstock. The flowers are diecut from Melon Mambo and Granny Apple Green and the centers are finished with festive pearls and sit atop dimensionals.

Products used:
Design 1
Zany Zoo stamps & dies
Zoo Crew DSP
Coastal Cabana, Pool Party, Basic Black & White cardstock
Dimensionals
Adhesives
Design 2
Zany Zoo dies
Alphabet a la Mode dies
Pansy Patch stamps (sentiment)
Circle punch
Zoo Crew DSP
Champagne dazzle designer paper
Melon Mambo, Granny Apple Green, Basic Black & White cardstock
Festive pearls
Dimensionals
Adhesives

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Dies · Shop the catalog · Zany Zoo

Zoo Crew Accordion Fun Fold

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Today’s design features an accordion fold and the Zany Zoo Suite of products. Inspiration for this card came from Tami White’s accordion fold tutorial. The three-panel design gives you so many opportunities to highlight both adorable designer paper and stamps. I wanted this design to tell a story of a birthday surprise.

The base of the card is Granny Apple Green cardstock, which is cut to standard size and scored to create the folds and panels. The first panel features the on-the-move sheet of paper from the Zoo Crew designer paper pack. To bring attention to the scootering fox but avoid fussy cutting, I used a circle punch to cut it out and dimensionals to pop it up. The second panel introduces the adorable alligator from the DSP. I cut the alligator and balloons using the coordinating dies, and I made the hilly background using the curtain die. The third panel features the raccoon stamp and die, which is colored using Stampin’ Write markers.

Products used:
Zany Zoo stamps & dies
Zoo Crew DSP
Granny Apple Green, Melon Mambo, Basic Black, Basic White cardstock
Stampin’ Write markers
Gold trim
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Dies · Shop the catalog · Zany Zoo

Zany Recital Window Card

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I’m so excited to have received the Zany Zoo Suite in my SU! supply shipment today. I’ve been anxiously awaiting this bundle because it is just TOO cute!

I found a really fun window card tutorial in my search for inspiration on Pinterest, so I decided to give Lynn Dunn’s window card design a try. The only complaint I had with her original design was that there was no space to write a personal message inside the card. So I decided to try to incorporate a flip-down flap that I learned on Klompen Stamper’s Fun Folds Vol. 7 to allow room to write inside the card.

By adding the flap for a personalized message, that gives a total of four panels for this design. The card front is the window to the first inside scene of the dancing cat taking center stage. The dancing cat panel folds down to reveal another scene on stage of the cat doing a duet with the hippo on the center panel and the bottom panel for the personalized message. TIP: If you don’t have a piece of pristine acetate, use an extra piece from a stamp set. Just wipe it down on both sides with a microfiber cloth to remove any temporary impressions from stamps. I used the extra that came with Gone Fishing.

The base of the card and flap are Pool Party cardstock. The Zoo Crew designer paper provides all of the patterned elements. I die cut the dancing cats and fussy cut the hippo from the Zoo Crew DSP. Basic Black and Basic White round out the cardstock used. The curtains and banner were cut using the coordinating Zany Zoo dies. This card was super fun to make and would certainly come together more quickly with duplication. If there’s any interest, I may do a tutorial on this one down the road.

Products used:
Zany Zoo stamps
Zany Zoo dies
Zoo Crew DSP
Pool Party, Basic Black, Basic White cardstock
Acetate
Adhesives
Dimensionals

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