Zoo ZZZZZZ (CPC + B71B + SOC)

Here is a fun page that owes its inspiration to three different challenge sites!

Supplies: background paper by Little Yellow Bicycle; ruler paper by Doodlebug Design; kraft notebook paper by Cachet; die cut circle paper (used as stencil) by Graphic 45; pink mini alphabet stickers & distressed orange "z" sticker by October Afternoon; all other alphabet stickers by Bella Blvd; canvas flags by Canvas Corp.; thread by DMC; doily by Royal Consumer Products; orange paint by Plaid; white paint by Ranger; pen by Zig; buttons upcycled from old clothing.

One of the current prompts at Child's Play Challenges is the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse image shown below.

image source: CPC blog

This image inspired me to make a page with lots of animals on it.  This worked ideally with the June challenge at Berry 71 Bleu, which is to make a brightly colored layout about a favorite summertime activity.  Regular readers of my blog know that I love to visit the zoo.  So, I made a zoo page--no surprise there.  I'm excited that I managed to fit six photos on my page--hooray!

Every orangutan photo should be accented by doilies & delicate bits of thread, don't you agree, heeheehee?  :)

Hot pink + orange is the color combo of the week at Summer of Color, so I used that bright, sunny color scheme for my summery page.  It fits in perfectly with the journaling on the page, which reads: "We love summer trips to the zoo, even if the hot summer sun puts the animals to sleep.  They're cute when they're taking a siesta.  :)"

No particular shade of orange was specified, so I used a few different oranges.  Now, I confess that hot pink & orange is not the color combo that I voted for this time, and I found it a very challenging combination.  But that's good, because it helps me to grow as an artist and think about how I use color. 

I'm using the Summer of Color challenges to explore new techniques.  This week, I wanted to try using acrylic paints on all sorts of surfaces.  I painted on patterned paper, kraft paper, photos, canvas flags, and buttons.  The buttons were my favorite, and I'll definitely be painting on buttons again and again in the future--so glad I tried this!  I'll also be using "sticker sprinkles" (shown in the above photo) again.  These are the off-cuts that I trimmed from the mini alphas that I added to the animals' photos.  I love the extra texture that these "sprinkles" add.

As I did last week, I'll end this post with larger versions of the animal photos that you see on the layout.

We have two zoos in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area.  The snow leopards, orangutan, and gorilla are from Como Zoo in St. Paul.

The tiger, komodo dragon, and wild boar are from the Minnesota Zoo in suburban Minneapolis.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today!

ETA: I am pleased to announced that this layout won second place at Child's Play Challenges.