Le Cirque CHA Sneak Peek

I have to admit, when I first heard that one of the new Graphic45 paper lines was to be a circus theme, I was a bit worried. I have mixed feelings about circuses, and clowns kind of creep me out. However, when I saw the colors and richness of the new Le Cirque line...I was convinced that I would love it. It was really fun to work with, as were the new Hampton Art stamps!

Here are a few more peeks of the projects I made for Hampton Art, using the Graphic45 papers and the matching stamps.

I spent most of one morning color-matching cardstock...from my cardstock stash! Honestly. I did not have to shop for paper colors. I am not sure if that's cool...or really scary! The papers in this collection are very rich and vibrant, so I paired them with black and kraft.

I used some of the Graphic45 Flower Staples to make a rose. This is so easy to do. You just stack the flowers together and gently roll the petals. Check out the fabbie brads...they look like screw heads.

I made another rose with more of the G45 flowers, but this time I added a button to the center. Graphic45 came out with the buttons and flowers at the Summer 2010 CHA. They are FANTASTIC! I used Maya Road pins, but I colored them with Copics. The trick to coloring these, is to do several coats, but let the ink dry between coats! Very important!

And yes, another flower. The stamp I used is from the Le Cirque 2 set. I stamped with black in onto kraft paper, then did some edge distressing. Very simple.

I also want to mention that I used the Tim Holtz birdcage die to cut my bird cage. This is one of my favorite dies right now. It's very fun to use the birdcage as a backdrop for images and tickets and things. You can also see a bit of the G45 lace trim peeking out. Love that stuff!

Normally, when I make cards for Graphic45, I try to use the images from the papers, but since I was doing these cards for Hampton Art, I needed to showcase the stamps. I needed to think of some unique ideas - it's interesting sometimes to just play around and see what I end up with! I found a pad of watercolor paper in my stash, and this card came to life!

I stamped the image of the ringmaster from the Le Cirque 1 set with Staz-On ink onto the watercolor paper. Then, using a watercolor brush and Ranger Distress inks, I painted him. I used more of the ink to splatter the paper and make it look old, sort of like a vintage poster image. This was my very fist watercolor project! Ok, the first since I was in grade school!

I cut a ticket with the Tim Holtz die, and stamped the Mayhem text onto it, then used some of the small images from the Le Cirque paper. I used a tiny image and some glossy accents to create a custom memo pin. Making the memo pins is of those very cool techniques that takes a bit of time, but is well worth it. I generally make a whole row of pins at once, then go read a book while the glossy accents dries!

And, nothing says "circus" quite like an elephant riding a bicycle...

This image is from my favorite stamp set in this line, Le Cirque 3. I stamped "Dumbo" onto kraft paper and distressed the paper with some ink. Ta-da! I added some metal items to mimic the bike wheels. I love my bin of metal embellishments. My family does not, because it's very noisy when I dig around looking for just the right item!

I am pretty sure all that metal is Tim Holtz junk. Do you love the colors of this paper? Yum!

Here you can see how I layered the text paper. I did a lot of grunge-up for this card. Way fun!

I wanted to show the inside of this card. I used a Martha Stewart edge punch that sort of looks like a banner. It's a good backdrop for those clowns.

Since I made a tag for the Once Upon a Springtime set, I decided to make a tag for this set also. I just love making tags, especially now that I have the Tim Holtz tag die!

I stamped the image of the lion tamer from the Le Cirque 3 set onto watercolor paper with brown Staz-On ink. Then I sprayed the paper with several colors of glimmer mist. Plus, I flicked plain water over the image to give it that old, grungy look. Since I stamped with Staz-On ink, I could add water and my image did not run or bleed.

I stamped tickets with the Tim Holtz Going Somewhere set and the Papertrey Ink Just the Ticket set. The clay postage embellishment has been in my stash for YEARS. I am pretty sure it's an old K&Company item.

I used the Mayhem text again, to make another ticket. But check out the lion embellishment! I used a circle punch to punch out the lion face from the Graphic45 tag sheet, then I glued the image into a bottle cap. When the glue was dry, I took my craft hammer and whacked the stuffing out of the bottle cap to flatten it. Ta-da! How cool, right?!

Here is a view of all the layering on the tag. I used the Spellbinders Nestabilities inverted scallop circle die to mat the image and to mimic the bottle cap edge. I also dyed some seam binding to make matching wrinkle ribbon. When I dye the seam binding, it looks like a chemistry experiment as I try to get just the right color!

I hope you liked this circus sneaky peeky! I have one more peek to go...plus I have all the projects I created for the Graphic45 CHA booth still to come!!! So hang in there!