It's a 1st Birthday-A Zoo! I'm not LION!

It's our Grand Son's 1st Birthday and couldn't be happier with how this card came out!
I mixed Zoo animals and an Owl. There is an Owl in the set I used with Zoo animals, so I didn't stray too far off the path.

Click below to see the card, it's a RIOT!

This card turned out SO cute! Inside and out! I won't lie, I had a LOT of trouble with this card. It took me a full week to complete it, 3 days alone on the inside--only because I was so indecisive and I couldn't make up my mind. I kept changing things and the layout. Today I finally settled on what it turned out like. The front wasn't that bad to do, it just took me 2 nights mainly because I was indecisive about the layout--which animals I wanted in what order and what type and color of cart I wanted them on.

For the Lion, Giraffe and Monkey I used the SU! Fox & Friends set. This set has an owl in it, but I didn't like the owl that was in the set, so that's why I went with using my SU! Owl Builder punch for the inside of the card. The baby Elephant is from the TPC Studio "Sweet Beginnings" stamp set. The Card base is SU! Tempting Turquoise, the brown base is SU! Chocolate Chip and I used Georgia Pacific white cardstock for the images. For the Decorative cardstock I used an un-named Studio G paper pack set from 2013 from Michael's. I have 3 of these packs--when I find ones I want, I buy several of them. I think I had originally purchased 4 or 5 of them but 3 is all I have left, and now with this card, I used several sheets from 1 pack for this card in different ways, so I don't have full sheets of some of them anymore. With these paper packs not being 'named' I'm going to be devastated when I run out of them, cause they are such cute packs!

Here is the front of the card on it's back. I tried really hard to get a good picture of the whole front, because ALL of the carts popped up on 3D foam dots and the jute twine is popping off the card (only glued down in a couple spots so it doesn't get snagged and yanked off) and the birthday sentiment flag and balloon is also popped up on 3D foam dots.

Look at these little cuties!!! I did a close up of each one below so that you can see all of the detail to each animal.

On a strip of white cardstock I stamped the birthday sentiment from the SU! "Happiest Birthday Wishes (set 2 of 2) Hostess set. It's stamped in SU! Chocolate Chip. I inked the edges of the flag because I tried to just lay it on there and see how it looked and it didn't really stand out. I made flag tails on the end and cut the front portion to a triangle. With some heavy duty jewelry wire I used my jewelry pliers and twisted the wire into a small circle on the top and a medium circle on the side. I folded the triangle top over the medium circle and sealed it down with some Glossy Accents and placed a WOC ultra mini teal pearl on the tip. I think it came out SO cute! If you look above, you'll see that the jute twine is attached to all of the carts of the animal train and travels across the bottom of the card and is attached to this flag. It's all one long piece of jute twine, not individual pieces.

The inside. SOOOOOOO CUTE!!!!!!!!!!! I used 2 different stamp sets for the words on the inside. the small letters are from the American Crafts "Ginger SM" alpha set and the # 1 and Kenyon's name is from from the CTMH "Glamour Lowercase Alpha" set.
Now, I know what you're thinking, as soon as you look at this, WOW, she REALLY messed up on the "wh o oo oo oo o's". But see, I did NOT mess up! I did it intentionally!!! I was trying to replicate the sound that an owl makes 'hoo, hooo hoo ooo ooo ooo" etc. They all make different "oo" sounds at different times and I just thought it would look cute.
I used the flags from the Dear Lizzy "Warble" set and I alternated colors of each flag from SU! Tempting Turquoise, Pumpkin Pie, Certainly Celery and Daffodil Delight. I did the same thing with the words, I alternated the colors, and I purposely started with the Turquoise because I wanted Kenyon's name to be in the brightest color.

So, like I said, there is an owl in the SU! "Fox & Friends" stamp set, but it wasn't cute enough for me. I wanted to go with something bold. I originally cut out a small cardstock owl from the paper pack that goes with the deco cardstock on the front, but it wasn't big enough, it was only an inch and a half. I wanted something a bit bigger and something I could give some personality and life to. So, I got out my SU! Owl Builder punch and made this little guy! For his front I used some of the deco cardstock from the paper pack and I made him a little collar to his front with a separate sheet from the pack. I thought it gave it something extra to make him so spiffy! The Owl Builder punch does NOT make wings for the Owl, but there is a wing for the bird in the SU! Bird Builder punch that can be used as wings for the owl so I did that. The only thing I realized that I messed up on is that I didn't ink the edges of the owl so he really has no dimension. I tried to peel him off after gluing him down, but Glossy Accents is stuck once it's stuck! dang it!!!
I did use a present and the hat from the paper pack and fussy cut them. I tied a TINY bow for the present and adhered it to the top of the package with Glossy Accents and then I adhered it to his wing with a 3D pop foam dot. For the hat I cut it off an owl in the paper pack and turned it over and used a layer of Glossy Accents to adhere several strips of Friendship Bracelet thread. I did another layer of Glossy Accents over the top of them to seal them in so they can't fall off over time. I cut them to different lengths once the glue was dried and I could handle the hat. I turned the hat sideways and glued it on. It is sticking up from the owl so it has some nice dimension to it. I used the leafy branch from the SU! Bird Builder punch to make branches for the owl to stand on. I clipped the leaves off one end to make a lone branch for him to stand on and used those leaves to attach underneath for more foliage because it looked kinda plain without them there. I purposely put the mini whites of his eyes pointing down/sideways because he's LOOKING at Kenyon's name. SOOOOOO freakin' adorable!!!

So, here are the close-ups of the zoo animals on the front of the card on their train carts. To make the carts I punched out cardstock from the SU! Decorative Label punch and cut them in half by a little more than half. I punched out several circles in different colored cardstock from the SU! Owl Builder punch and made wheels on the carts, completing them with a WOC ultra mini pearl in the middle of each wheel. Yes, I know...not all of the wheels are lined up exactly and the circles aren't all perfectly centered. I did this on PURPOSE so that it gives movement to the carts.
I dry embossed 2 of each cart with the Cuttlebug "Swiss Dots" folder and the Cuttlebug "Flourishes" folder. I didn't want the Giraffe on the dots folder and I didn't want the Monkey on the swirls folder because I didn't want them to blend into the design, i wanted them to stand out.
I used Glossy Accents and outlined all the swirls and each dot on each of the carts as well as using them on the noses and eyes of each animal.

The Elephant is stamped in Memento Black and colored with SU! Going Gray marker and placed on a SU! Tempting Turquoise punched cart with SU! Chocolate Chip and yellow wheels. I used a black marker to outline his trunk and darken his eye and then covered his eye in Glossy Accents for shine.

The lion was a 3 step process. I stamped him in SU! Daffodil Delight on the original cardstock strip and then again on scrap cardstock in the same color and also in SU! Pumpkin Pie. I cut out his mane and adhered it over the original stamped image with a 3D foam pop square and then cut out his face from the 2nd yellow image and adhered that flat on top of the main. I went over his eyes and nose with black marker and I also drew him a little mouth. He didn't originally have one, but the Monkey did, so I wanted him to have one to match. His eyes and nose are covered in a dot of Glossy Accents to give them shine. He is sitting on a SU! Chocolate Chip cardstock cart with green and yellow wheels.

The Giraffe is stamped in SU! Tempting Turquoise and I went over his eye with a black marker and also gave him a smile to match the Lion and Monkey. He didn't originally have a smile, but he had to have one, too! His eye is covered in Glossy Accents for shine. I tied a TINY bow (by hand) from brown friendship bracelet thread (I do often use bakers twine, but I buy the friendship thread in large 28-30 color packages and they last me foreverrrrr. I buy them in single color and in ombre color, I find them to come in really handy for so many different projects! This bow is SO tiny I had to use tweezers to hold it while putting the Glossy Accents on the back and adhering it to the Giraffe's neck. I think it turned out SO cute!
He is on a yellow cart with SU! Tempting Turquoise and green wheels.

Last but not least...the MONKEY!!! I stamped him in SU! Chocolate Chip and colored his belly with SU! Tempting Turquoise marker. I just thought it was SO cute. I tried it on scratch cardstock before doing it just be sure I wanted to and it looked cute so I went with it! For the balloon I cut out the circled number from one of the cardstock pages in the paper pack. I adhered it with a ultra 3D foam pop square piece. I used a needle and ombre friendship bracelet thread to make the string wrap around the monkeys tail up to the balloon. I tied a teeny tiny bow and adhered that right under the balloon. I covered the balloon in Glossy Accents so it's shiny like a balloon would be. The Monkey's eyes and nose have Glossy Accents on them to make them shine like a real Monkey.
He is on a green cart with SU! Chocolate Chip and Tempting Turquoise wheels.

Well, what do you think? Do you like it? I LOVE how it turned out! I can't believe how frustrated I was when I first started it. I was having a pretty bad day to begin with, but needed to start this card and thought that crafting would calm me down, but I just got more frustrated when I was trying to figure out all the colors, the layouts, etc. I almost scrapped this card and went a completely different direction with a different stamp set, but I'm SO glad that I didn't because this turned out too cute!!!

I hope that you liked it. Thanks for stopping by to check it out, I'll be back soon with more crafty makes.

Keep on Craftin'
~Melisa Marie