Circus of Dreams...

Happy Tuesday! I am so excited to share today's projects with you as this is my first month working with Lifestyle Crafts and an Affiliate! As such, I get to create projects that will hopefully inspire my readers and feature some products that I love. Plus, the "yay" part is that I get to offer you an exclusive discount from the Lifestyle Crafts store! Keep reading for details and I hope you have fun along the way...

This month's Limited Edition Big Top Dies release is circus themed, which has been so popular with recent books and movies. Not just for children anymore, I love that I can create circus projects that can be both elegant and whimsical. For my release projects, I decided to create a trio of cards to showcase some of these darling dies.

My first card features three newly-released Dies -- Ring Master (alphabet), Carousel, and Pennants. I was inspired by this lovely patterned paper for my colors and designed this card to capture an old-fashioned circus feel. The separate pieces of the carousel horse make it possible to create the horse alone and with or without decorations.
(I will have another project using this adorable die tomorrow if you'd like to see more!)

If any of you have read the imaginative novel, The Night Circus, you will have been struck by the visual artistry of the author's descriptions of the magical roving circus that only opens at sundown. I was inspired by the book to create the unusual birthday card below for a creative friend of mine.

 I used the newly released Tent 4 x 4 cutting die from Lifestyle Crafts to create my "circus of dreams." Of course, the tent can be cut from bright, fun colors as well, but for mine I went with the whimsical black and white, with just a touch of red for the beckoning curtain.

I also used the previously-released Nesting Rings die to create my "moon" rising over the big top. With the perfect sentiment, I had a card ready for one of my most imaginative friends.

My third card is a whimsical and sweet card I created with the new Hot Air Balloon die. There are a ton of options for how the balloon can be decorated. I used some pretty patterned paper for the balloon itself and added a wooden button.

The Hot Air Balloon Die includes dies to create a cute little medallion, from which I created my little pennants for my sentiment. Talk about a time-saver, as creating these by hand would have taken me all day! 

BEAN NOTES

Hooray Card

Dies: Limited Edition Carousel, Pennants, and Ring Master 4 x 4 Quickutz Dies (Lifestyle Crafts)

Patterned Paper: Lost & Found Rosy (My Mind's Eye)

Cardstock: Pool Party, Very Vanilla (Stampin' Up!); textured (American Crafts)

Accents: Paper Flowers (Prima)

Tools: Creative Station (Xyron)

Wish Big Card

Dies: Limited Edition Tent 4 x 4 Quickutz Die, Nesting Rings Quickutz Die (Lifestyle Crafts)

Cardstock: Real Red, Basic Black, Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)

Stamps: sentiment (Papertrey Ink)

Tools: Creative Station (Xyron)

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black (Tsukineko)

Up, Up & Away Card

Dies: Limited Edition Hot Air Balloon 4 x 4 Quickutz Die (Lifestyle Crafts); Clouds Duo (Papertrey Ink)

Patterned Paper: Songbird (Prima)

Cardstock: textured (Bazzil); Very Vanilla (Stampin' Up!)

Fibers: Lace (Kate's Paperie)

Stickers: alphabet (Pink Paislee)

Tools: Creative Station (Xyron)

I hope you enjoyed my trio of cards today! 

As an Affiliate, I get to offer my readers an exclusive savings discount code! For a 20% off discount on the dies shown here and everything else in the Lifestyle Crafts store, enter the promo code: BEAN at check-out.

Happy crafting!