Life is a Circus!

Another monthly swap over at artJoystuff . . . 

this time with the theme  

"JOIN THE CIRCUS!"

I used a colorful image of a robed elephant 

and added jewels and glitter for more sparkle

(alas, I wish the image hadn't included the prod-wielding trainer. Our local zoo is under scrutiny for past overzealous prod misuse, and it makes me furious and disgusted! 
And, truth be told, animals in circuses, caged & hauled around in trucks,  bother me quite a bit, too--
but the imagery is sure great...).

The elephant and the circus label are both raised up to be 3-d.

Always on the lookout for apropos clipart to add my info on the backside,

I found this goofy booted elephant to keep with the theme:

and tucked each card in a bright envelope, adding a little tag I made from a darling old photo:

I had some extra bits left over and made a specially labeled envelope for Kim:

And look what came in the mail today!! ~ 

Okay, I MUST go to the Post Office and get these fantastic circus postage stamps!!!  I hadn't seen them before and they are so wonderful!  I will even brave the long line, the horrible service, and the very unfriendly staff at my nearby station ....or maybe try to order them online?!?
Yes, that's a much better idea as I believe these may have been issued a while ago. 
But I digress........

Inside the package I found these delightful ATCs, each colorful and clever...

left to right, by Marlene, by Kim, and by Sherry (complete with dancing rhino!) ~ Thanks, Ladies!!

...along with a happy little vintage clown that Kim included with the swap:

Circus Fun!

Easy-Peasy Handmade Cards

I have 2 friends retiring from long careers in teaching, 

and wanted to make them each a card, but had very little time to do so.  

 Graphics Fairy to the rescue!  What would we all do without that amazing, generous site??

Someone else was clever enough to come up with that cute phrase, so I just borrowed it and printed the image in simple black and white on matte photo paper.  A little pink Prismacolor pencil gives her cheeks some color.  Kim had sent a bunch of paper cut-out flowers a while back, and I added smaller flowers I punched from some aqua foil paper I had in my stash.  Light aqua stick-on pearls from the $1 bins at Michaels (all that stuff tempts me so!!) add a little pizzazz, along with folding the petals upward for dimension.  Kraft paper card stock frames everything and is a nice contrast to the white and aqua.

How easy was that?!

I much prefer giving handmade cards instead of store-bought.  So much more economical, plus I just really enjoy making and personalizing them.

I decorated the envelopes with another flower and pearl, plus some white gel pen lettering and flourishes.  I love using white pens or pencils on brown kraft paper....I think it looks so snappy!

(Remember my little Etsy gift boxes from a long-ago post??):

White pencil on the left, white gel pen on the right.  The white adds so much extra 'oomph' to the brown paper.

Here's the other decorated envelope (the card was identical):

Easy Peasy!