As I looked for a card idea to make with a stamp set that was retiring from the Stampin’ Up! Annual Catalog, I had a difficult time finding a set I had that wasn’t already sold out! This is the one I came up with and made this fun Zoo Crew Musical Birthday Card with this retiring designer series paper that I love! I wish this whole stamp set, dies, and designer series paper were sticking around another year! These little animals, doing various things from camping to crafting to playing instruments are just so cute and fun! It may be Tax Day, but these little guys will put a smile on your face!

For this card, I started with the Zoo Crew Designer Series Paper in the Zoo Crew Suite Collection. It was tough deciding which characters to use, but I decided on the musical guys. I used my Paper Trimmer to cut out each animal without getting too much other background. You could use a punch or rectangle die or whatever you like but I find just using the Paper Trimmer to be the easiest. Then I layered each animal on colored cardstock and then onto a narrow piece of black. You could do just one layer. I won’t put all the exact measurements because your cut-out animal might be a different size than mine.

The frog was already colored in, but I did decide to color in the bear and the first animal, whatever he is. Maybe he is a wild boar. I used Stampin’ Blends. Their instruments were already colored, I just colored the animal body. You could use Watercolor Pencils or some ink and a Blender Pen or even leave them blank. I didn’t think about how they weren’t colored at first.

The card base is Basic Black with a layer of Lemon Lime Twist. The background designer paper is in the Zoo Crew paper. You could choose from several different patterns.

Fitting these three musicians on the card was a little tricky, but I finally was satisfied with how I have them placed. I decided to pop all three of them up with Stampin’ Dimensionals. Where the corners overlapped, I did not put a Dimensional.

For the greeting, I chose one in the Zany Zoo Stamp Set and stamped it on a scrap strip of Basic White. I have a lot of these scrap strips of cardstock, and they are often handy for a narrow greeting. Rather than making banner ends on my greeting, I added some Iridescent Adhesive-Backed Discs to each end. These are great because they are flat and didn’t add any more bulkiness to the card.

As I am writing this, you can still get the retiring Zany Crew Suite Collection or the individual products in the Stampin’ Up! Online Store! Let me know if you have any questions about what is available or not available during this Last Chance retirement time!

SHOP STAMPIN’ UP! ONLINE HERE!

I was in the mood for an easy and fun card and when you want that, you just might turn to the Zoo Crew Designer Series Paper! What turned out was this Zoo Crew Fun Birthday Card. There is no denying how cute and fun this designer paper is along with the stamp set and all the whimsical characters you can create with!

The card base is Basic White with a layer of Soft Sea Foam cardstock. I felt it needed something so I looked through my embossing folders. I chose the Painted Texture 3D Embossing Folder because it has that texture but nothing that competes with the rest of the card.

In my package of Basic White, I found one of these Radiating Stitches die-cuts in the bag so I tried that out to see if it would work on this card and I liked it! It provided a backdrop for my characters to help them show up better but wasn’t distracting. When I saw a narrow strip of a black and white scallop pattern in the designer paper, I stuck that underneath the die-cut just for a little interest there.

The characters on the card front are simply cut out of the Zoo Crew Designer Series Paper. This is just some of the cutest paper that Stampin’ Up! has carried. What is fun about it is all the different characters doing all sorts of different things – knitting, camping, singing, playing musical instruments, dancing, even doing yoga! The characters are partially colored in and look fine as is, but if you want to, you can add more color with whatever coloring technique you like. I chose three characters who were celebratory – one singing, one juggling cupcakes, and one bringing a gift. I did add some extra color with my Stampin’ Blends because I like doing that! There are some dies that fit with some of the characters, but I just cut them out with Paper Snips.

The greeting is in the Zany Zoo Stamp Set. I stamped it with Memento Ink and die-cut it with one of the center dies in the Countryside Corners Dies. It was a good fit! I layered it on a strip of Pool Party cardstock and flagged each end. It is popped up on Stampin’ Dimensionals, as are the three characters. Remember, we have Mini Dimensionals for those little spaces.

For a final touch, I added a bunch of Pastel Adhesive-Backed Sequins in pink, gold, and blue all around the card. Can you ever have too many sequins??!

Here’s another card, sort of a similar design, except with three dancers, that I made previously with the Zoo Crew Designer Series Paper.

The holidays and Holiday Mini are approaching, but don’t forget to enjoy the other great products we have in the Annual Catalog!

Be sure to redeem your July coupons if you have them!