When the zoo comes to you it’s party time!  I was inspired by this adorable stamp and die set drawn by Bonnie Krebs for Art Impressions of a bus full of animals.

Using Memento Tuxedo Black ink to stamp the images on white cardstock, I colored them with using watercolor pencils and a waterbrush. Once the colors were dry, I used a silver gel pen to color all the chrome trim on the bus and hubcaps. Using the matching dies, I cut the animals and bus out. I cut a second bus out to act as a backing for the bus. I had colored and cut a set of spare tires, so I cut away the tires on the colored bus so I could add dimension of the tires being beneath the bus.

Next I played with the placement of the animals in the bus and once satisfied with their placement, I glued them to the backside of the blue bus. For the cake rack and the monkey, I had to add small slips of cardstock for supports for the foam tape that adhered them to the bus frame. The koala bear was also foam taped to the back bus using the die cut door opening as my placement guides. The tires were glued flat to the backing bus’s wheels. (And while I toyed with the idea of making the wheels on the bus spin – mimicking the children’s song – I deciding against it.) Doubled sided foam bits from my stash were sandwiched between the two bus layers for dimension. Baker’s twine was taped to the back of the colored balloons and poked between the bus layers and glued.

Using Stampin’Up Dapper Denim blue ink I stamped both outside “For You on your birthday” sentiment on white cardstock and then the large “Happy Birthday” inside the card. The “For You” I heat embossed with sparkly snow embossing powder which added sparkle, but embossed clear.

On the top inside panel I added another Art impression’s stamp of a tricycle riding elephant that I had colored and fussy cut out with its hat flying off.

The completed card has the bus doors being able to be opened to shoe the koala bear.

Supplies:

Stamps/Dies

• Art Impressions – Clear Stamps & Dies by Bonnie Krebs -Bus Cubbies-5226
• Art Impressions – Unmounted Clear Stamp – Scrapbook.com Exclusive- Elephant on Bike-5204
• Stampin’ Up Photopolymer stamp Set – Blow Out The Candles   -146420

Papers

• White light weight card stock from stash
• DCWV – Strips Box of Cards – 40 A2 Printed Textured Cards & Envelops

Inks/Watercolors

• Stampin’ Up Classic Stamin’ Pad – Dapper Denim
• Memento – Tuxedo Black ink pad
• Prima Marketing Inc. Watercolor Pencils -The Basics
• Sakura Gelly Roll Pen – Silver

Miscellaneous

• Recollections Detail Embossing Powder – Snow
• Foam tape/squares/dimensionals from stash
• Cosmic Shimmer Acrylic Glue/PVA Glue
• Stampin’ Up Baker’s Twine – Bermuda Bay -134575