What Do Cirque de Soleil and Sun Dresses have in Common???

This past Sunday was a real scorcher with temperatures soaring into the 34 Celcius range (94.3 F.) and higher.  Now usually I don't venture out in the heat, preferring to stay in my air conditioned digs, but I'd been invited by one of my very bestest girlfriends to join her and her sister on a trip into Vancouver to see KOOZA, one of Cirque de Soliel's fantastic new circus shows.  What fun we had!  We parked our cars in Surrey and hopped on our rapid transit line and before we knew it we were in Vancouver, where we quickly joined the rest of the crowd strolling along the sidewalks.  The show was held "Under the Grand Chapiteau" at Concord Place.  Here's a view of the city skyline and the Grand Chapiteau.  The 2 1/2 hour show had us rolling in our seats with the antics of the clowns and oooohing and awwwing at the magnificent feats of the high wire acrobatics acts.  

During the intermission we went outside and one of the things that caught my eye, were the number of girls and women who were wearing sundresses.  Wow it was amazing!  It was so retro I thought I'd taken a trip back into the 60's.  And, they all looked stunning!  So after seeing this amazing array of fashion finery, the wheels started turning and all the way home I kept thinking about those sun dresses.  You guessed it!  I pulled out the sun dress template  and made some more birthday cards.  Hope you enjoy them.. 

I can't seem to get enough of these cards.  They are so fast and easy to make. The best way to do it is to cut out a template using the Big Shot Scallop Circle on a piece of scrap cardstock.  Mark off 4 scallops for the top of the dress and 9 scallops for the bottom of the dress, then just taper off the sides to give you shape on either side of the dress.  If you want a fuller skirt just adjust the number of scallops on the bottom to 11.  To add the petticoats on the bottom of the dress just cut additional scallops out of contrasting cardstock or DSP and glue in degrees below the original dress scallop.  Add a matching bag, some ribbon, and you're done!  For more information and samples see Gretchen Barron's site where she has a great write up and some nice samples on her blog.

Cherry Cobbler, Peach Parfait, Regal Rose cardstock.

Inside view of cards  

Bashful Blue, Real Red and Old Olive Cardstock.  Retired DSP. 

Color Challenge #1 - UStamp with Dawn and Friends

I love Color Challenges and especially ones that I can use my beautiful Stampin'Up! colors on.  This is the first challenged from UStamp with Dawn Early Summer Edition 2010. 
If you are interested in viewing the 40 other projects and challenges there is still time to join up. Just click on this link for more information. http://www.ustampwithdawn.blogspot.com/.


I love Gretchen Barron's Inspiration in Action blog.  She always has wonderful creations and helpful hints.  So, it wasnt' a stretch when I looked at these colors to make my decision to case a card Gretchen made back in May of this year.  So here's my version.

Inside view of Birthday Sentiment and setup.

Dress and Matching Purse Happy Birthday card in Real Red, Tempting Turquoise and Old Olive.  Happy Moments Stamp set used for sentiments on inside and outside. Circle Scallop Die from Big Shot for Dress. 

Let me know what you think.  This was a very easy and fun filled project.  I personally love the "purse".  LOL!