In tears at the circus . . .

I recently watched

The Greatest Showman

and it brought back memories for me

of taking my Baby Boy

to the circus for the first time.

It was nothing short of a miracle that we 

had this adorable baby in the first place.

And I was in tears at the circus

with the thought that 

here I was, sitting in the stands

with a child I thought I'd never have.

After I watched

The Greatest Showman

I *had* to create a mini showcasing the circus.

And, of course,

Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts

has some amazing circus chippies.

I used the following chipboard cuts for 

my circus mini.

For the Carousel Horse on the spine:

Using a gold paint Pen-Touch paint pen,
I painted the post.
Then traced around 2 pieces of paper
from the
Stamperia Circus Collection:
one for the carousel top and another for the horse.

Because I was putting this against a very busy background
I backed this chip on black cardstock.
Then adhered to the book spine.

Next, the cover:

The Banner Border Strips were first
covered with Versa-Mark
then sprinkled and embossed
with
Ranger's Scarlet Mixed Media Powder

The banner was strung across the top of the book
and then I added dots of blue Stickles
in between each *flag*.

The giraffe was painted with a
gold Pen-Touch paint pen.
After that dried, I used a Tim Holtz stencil
and
Prima Rust Effect Paste
(Red Rust)
on top of the gold paint pen.
After adding an eye with Stickles,
the giraffe joined the cover.

Housing the giraffe is a circus car from the

Circus Shape Set.

It was embossed using

VersaMark and Ranger's Scarlet Mixed Media Powder.

The wheels were painted with a Gold Pen-Touch pen.

I added Prima Liquid Pearl dots around the car.

Each page in this mini has a large pocket insert.

The inserts were tabbed with 2 tickets each

(folded in half).

The tickets were dry brushed with white acrylic

and then tinted with

Iced Spruce Distress Ink.

Once the ink was dry, I fussy cut

tiny images from the

Stamperia paper and added an image to each.

The mini has 2 large envelopes included,

one on the inside front cover

and one on the inside back cover.

I wanted a different closure for each

so I used the 

tent image and ferris wheel image

from the

Circus Shape Set

The tent was first painted with white acrylic.

Let dry and then added red acrylic accents.

The flat at the top was painted with yellow ochre acrylic.

After the paint dried, I used

Vintage Photo ink to add dimension and *dirt*

to the tent.

I let that dry and topped it all off with

Clear Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint.

But . . . a warning!

Both the crackle paint and vintage photo ink

are water soluble so . . . 

the crackle paint can move the ink around.

I dabbed the crackle paint on so that 

the vintage photo ink stayed where I wanted it to.

Sort of.

I added more of the banner to the top of the circus tent

painting it white, inking it up a bit

and then added blue stickles dabbed on the banner.

Once everything was dry, I added it to a quote pocket

with the top of the tent acting as a closure

to the envelope.

The back envelope was closed with the

ferris wheel.

Both side were painted with Versa Mark and 

embossed with 

Ranger's Scarlet Mixed Media Powder.

A *jewel* was added to the center

and then the top back of the ferris wheel

was adhered to the envelope top.

I used a velcro tiny dot clear closure at the bottom

of the carousel.

Here's a walk through of the mini:

The following are the
Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts
elements I used in this mini.

Circus Shape Set

Carousel Animals

Carousel Horse

Ticket Strips

Banner Border Strips

Thanks for visiting today!

See you in a couple of weeks.

Nancy Wethington