Tag: 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

Terrific Tuesdays

Better With You

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What do you like to do on rainy days? For me, it depends, but there’s nothing better than being able to spend them with my loved ones! And that’s the inspiration behind today’s card.

A quick peek through the window tells this duo that their fun has to be indoors today. So mama llama and the turtle set about their favorite rainy day activities — knitting and singing.

This card is built on a base of Lost Lagoon cardstock. The focal panel background is also Lost Lagoon. Using two nesting Deckled Rectangles dies, I fashioned the window and window frame. I used the smaller die to cut the interior of the window frame and the window panel to the card front where the raindrops are stamped and embossed with clear embossing powder for a more realistic watery shimmer. The clouds are fussy cut from the Sale-a-Bration Sunny Days designer series paper, and the lightning bolts are diecut from holographic specialty paper using the Bright Skies dies.

To make a more realistic-looking room in the foreground of our focal panel, I diecut the rug from the rainbow sheet of Sunny Days paper using the middle-sized cloud in the Bright Skies die set. Our two adorable characters are diecut directly from the Zoo Crew designer paper using the coordinating Zany Zoo dies. The table and lamp are made with a combination of the Zany Zoo and Bright Skies die sets. The lamp base is the vase from Zany Zoo, while the lampshade is the tulip from Bright Skies. And to give the lamp the look of being on, I diecut a second tulip from a sheet of vellum that I colored yellow using my Stampin’ Blends. To keep the sentiment from distracting from this adorable scene, I stamped on vellum.

Check out this week’s Terrific Tuesdays video for even more inspiration using the Bright Skies stamps and dies.

Products used in today’s featured design:
Lost Lagoon, Crumb Cake, Basic White cardstock
Sunny Days, Holographic, Zoo Crew DSP
Vellum
Bright Skies, Zany Zoo, Autumn Leaves dies
Playing in the Rain, Zany Zoo stamps
Stampin’ Blends
Clear embossing powder
Dimensionals
Adhesives

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Terrific Tuesdays

Sending Ewe Love

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Are you having as much fun with the Sending Love bundle as I am? This stamp and die set is so very versatile — it can stand on its own or pair beautifully with other products. Here, I’ve borrowed an adorable character from the Zoo Crew designer series paper pack to complete this cute card.

I liked the idea of playing off the postage theme, and so I incorporated the Perennial Postage dies for adding interest to the edges of my focal panel pieces. This card begins with a piece of Pretty Peacock cardstock. While a standard size, I chose to use the portrait orientation with the score mark at the top. The two-layer focal panel consists of a Lost Lagoon mat and linen pattern from the Softly Stippled designer series paper pack in the current Sale-a-Bration catalog. The mailbox and envelope are each stamped in black ink on white cardstock and then colored the mailbox with Stampin’ Blends before diecutting with the coordinating Sending Love dies. I cut the cute little lamb from a sheet of Zoo Crew designer paper and filled in a few places with Stampin’ Blends. To build the scene, I cut a strip of grass from a piece of Inked Botanicals designer paper and then a few shrubs from Lost Lagoon. Adding dimensionals behind the strip of grass gives depth to the scene. The mailbox and grass are both in the forefront of the scene. I added a few flowers diecut from Highland Heather using the Painted Lavender dies. I used a few leftover hearts from another one of this week’s cards to finish off the LOVE theme for this cute design. Don’t you just love it?!

Check out this week’s Terrific Tuesdays video for even more inspiration using the Sending Love stamps and dies.

Products used in today’s featured design:
Pretty Peacock, Lost Lagoon, Highland Heather, Melon Mambo, Basic White cardstock
Softly Stippled, Inked Botanicals, golf foil DSP
Sending Love stamps
Sending Love, Perennial Postage, Painted Lavender dies
Opaque faceted gems
Rainbow dots
Pool Party & silver twine (retired)
Stampin’ Blends
Dimensionals
Adhesives

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Terrific Tuesdays

Send a Little Love

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

This week’s posts are all about Sending Love. The Sending Love bundle by Stampin’ Up! includes a set of cling stamps and coordinating dies. This set makes terrific cards for friends and loved ones when you want to say you love them or miss them or are thinking of them. I love this bundle because it can easily be paired with other products to make super cute cards, just like this one.

For today’s card, I paired the Sending Love bundle with the Zoo Crew designer series paper. I love the entire Zany Zoo bundle, which includes stamps and dies, and am always looking for ways to bring these super cute characters into fun and playful designs. I just started layering up some of my favorite characters and that’s how this adorable card came to be.

I decided to lean into the love theme for this card, which is built on a base of Fresh Freesia. I kept the peek-through portion of the base very small because I wanted to darker shades to shine through a bit more to keep things more neutral on the recipient end of things. The image panel is matted with a combination of Melon Mambo and Blackberry Bliss and a fun pop of Pool Party in the center with the crinkle ribbon. The cute images cut from the Zoo Crew designer paper are riding on a base of white cardstock. And all but one character is on their merry way to deliver their little love notes, which have been stamped and diecut using our featured bundle. I chose to have the little rabbit in the center as the usher of the sentiment. Don’t you think it’s fitting that the smallest character brings in the “little” sentiment? *wink-wink* Since love is definitely on everyone’s mind, you can literally see it in the air with all of the diecut hearts floating about.

Check out this week’s Terrific Tuesdays video for even more inspiration using the Sending Love stamps and dies.

Products used in today’s featured design:
Fresh Freesia, Melon Mambo, Blackberry Bliss, Basic White cardstock
Zoo Crew, Gold foil, Melon Mambo soft shimmer DSP
Sending Love stamps
Sending Love, Zoo Crew dies
Pool Party crinkle ribbon
Stampin’ Blends
Dimensionals
Adhesives

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Card Sets · Fun Folds

Zany, Bright, and Beautiful Birthday

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I’m working more with combinations of patterns with the latest designs. It’s still quite a challenge for me, but I do feel like designs came much more easily with this set. And what could be more fun than bright designs and fun folds?! This newest card pack called Bright and Beautiful Birthday will be available in the shoppe later this week.

I focused on the SU! Bright and Beautiful and Zoo Crew designer series paper packs in designing this set. As I was sketching out design ideas, it seemed natural to focus on a birthday theme. The bright colors and fun patterns just lent themselves easily to it. And to me, birthday designs call for fun folds! Let’s take a closer look at each card.

Something to Celebrate flap fold:
Blueberry Bushel, Shimmer White, Basic White cardstock
Bright & Beautiful DSP
Zany Zoo stamps
All That dies
Circle punch
Lemon Lime, Smoky Slate ribbon
Adhesive-backed sequins
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Birthday Confetti angled gate fold:
Night of Navy, Basic White cardstock
Bright & Beautiful, Zoo Crew DSP
Shimmer vellum (retired)
Special Moments stamps (retired)
Scallop punch
Adhesive-backed sequins
Wink of Stella
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Birthday Balloons angle fold:
Lemon Lime Twist, Shimmer White, Granny Apple Green cardstock
Bright & Beautiful, Zoo Crew DSP
Shimmer vellum (retired)
Zany Zoo stamps
All That, Nested Essentials dies
Adhesive-backed sequins
Wink of Stella
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Koala Cupcakes angle fold:
Lemon Lime Twist cardstock
Bright & Beautiful, Zoo Crew DSP
Shimmer vellum (retired)
Stitched Stars dies (retired)
Wink of Stella
Adhesive-backed sequins
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Birthday Fox angled trifold:
Night of Navy, Basic White cardstock
Bright & Beautiful, Zoo Crew DSP
Shimmer vellum (retired)
Wink of Stella
Pansy Patch stamps
All That, Nested Essentials dies
Adhesive-backed sequins
Dimensionals
Adhesives

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Dies · No Stamp Design · Wink of Stella

For the Love of Art

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Today’s design was crafted with a friend in mind. My friend is an artist and shared her talents with my family by painting my son a portrait of our kitties, who both totally think my son hung the moon and even tuck him into bed almost every night.

The Zoo Crew designer paper had the perfect character for the thank-you card my son is going to send. I mounted a sheet of the Delightfully Eclectic paper to the card base, punched the cute hedgehog artiste from the Zoo Crew paper, and mounted it on some glimmer vellum. Some ribbon and flags diecut from glimmer vellum accent the design and really make the focal image pop. I added a few adhesive-backed sequins and Wink of Stella for a little extra punch of sparkle.

Products used:
Basic White cardstock
Zoo Crew, Delightfully Eclectic DSP
Glimmer vellum (retired)
Circle, Scallop punch
All That dies
Pretty in Pink taffeta ribbon
Wink of Stella
Pastel adhesive-backed sequins
Dimensionals
Adhesive

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