The Power of Toucans

Toucans - unlikely looking birds!  They look like some stuffed frightful that you win at a carnival!  Those bright colours are so unusual and they stand out even more sharply with the black body.

Years ago, when we first moved to the Okanagan, we were lucky enough to move next to some great neighbours!  We had so much in common with them.  Susan and I were both teachers and we both had a husband named Ken!  As well, both couples were landscaping their yards and helped each other out.  When we laid our turf, Ken and Susan decided to do some time-lapse photography of the process and make a slideshow out of it!




Later, the two Kens got together to make some really hilarious amateur videos.  I wish I could share a couple with you, but they are in VHS format and I don't have time to change them. They got the idea to call their amateur video company Two Ken Productions and their logo was a little toucan.

I know you're thinking:  "Okay, how could she POSSIBLY use this intro to talk about a card?"
Believe it or not, there is a tie-in!  I was looking for some ideas to complete the Dynamic Duos Challenge #69:

The bright colours made me think of a children's card and I wanted to use my new Label Card Thinlet to make a swing card.  I looked through my stamp sets and my eye caught the Zoo Babies set.  Then I saw the Yippee-Skippee sentiment stamp set, which I thought might have something for a kid's card.  When I sat down and opened both stamp sets, that's when the magic happened.

I simultaneously caught sight of the little toucan in Zoo Babies and the sentiment "Never Underestimate the Power of Two"  and I had a major brain wave:  Here it is:

I laughed myself silly at the idea!  That, however, is where the magic ended!  I had no end of trouble getting the whole thing together.  I coloured those silly little toucans about 5 times.  I had trouble with the "cans" part.  At first I found the word "can" on another stamp in the same set and used it, but then I could not find an S to add on that was the same size or font.  Then my daughter suggested I use an alphabet set and stamp each letter separately.  Duh!  Of course!  So I got out my ABC-123 Sketched Alphabet and Numbers and that worked fairly well, but it was bigger and harder to fit the two toucans on.  Stamp-a-ma-jig to the rescue!

Anyway, with some other minor difficulties solved, I finally got the card made!  Who would have thought that such a simple card could create so many problems.  Probably just not my day!

Never underestimate the power of toucans!

Stamps:  Zoo Babies (w130453; c130456); Yippee-Skippee (w131341; c131344); ABC-123 Sketched Alphabet & Numbers (c130565)
Paper:  Brights Collection Designer Series Paper Stacks (Old Olive) (130134); Pacific Point (111350) and Whisper White (100730) cardstock
Ink:  Classic Stampin' Pad in Pacific Point (126951); Stampin' Write Markers in Pacific Point (as part of the Brights Collection) (131259) and Old Olive (100079)
Accessories:  Brights Collection Glimmer Brads (121006);  1/4" Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon in Pacific Point (126878)
Tools:  Label Card Thinlets (133479); Stamp-a-ma-jig (101049); Big Shot (113439)

ABC-123 Sketched Alphabet & Numbers Stamp Set

Zoo Babies Stamp Set

Brights Designer Series Paper Stacks

Brights Glimmer Brads

Pacific Point 1/4" Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon

Label Card Thinlits

Stamp-a-ma-jig