When the Circus Came to Town

"Back in the day" (which is how my children refer to anything before 2000), there didn't used to be colored television.  There didn't used to be colored photography either and if the circus train came to town, people came from far and wide to watch the parade of beautiful wagons and costumed folk.  

We went to Baraboo, Wisconsin to see the Ringling Brothers Circus Museum and the restored wagons literally took my breath away.  I can only imagine the pandemonium when those wagons pulled through the streets and children saw the colors and the phenomenal carvings and heard the Calliope playing!   I come from the generation that thought Silly Putty was the coolest thing ever so I know that what kids expect from entertainment now is a much higher standard.  But the circus coming to town had have been the highlight of childhood in the '30's and '40's,  like right up there with Christmas!

With the sites of the museum in mind, I created these tags.

Just like Elizabeth at Creativebreathing.blogspot.com teaches, I use the 'sandwich' method to layer the tag papers.  Start out with your pattern cut out of a cereal or lightweight cardboard box, layer scrapbook paper on the front and the back.  I usually date the back for tags I keep, I decorate ones that are going to be gifted.  The cereal box layer keeps the tags from bending when they are hung.

I carry the color scheme on to the next tag, see how the sheet music under the Ringmaster is on the border of the elephant's Show Time tag?  

All of the graphics were found in Mary Engelbreit's calendar, I save every graphic in file folders on my desk for future projects.  I even cut her page borders to use on my tags, I love polka dots!

I cut  my own trims because if I didn't I'd be in the poor house after a trip to Archivers! I love to garnish the paper crafts, I just can't afford to pay the piper!  

This one reminds me of the pony rides in the park when I was a little girl.  

Popcorn is a staple at our house, as in we must have bread, milk and popcorn!  I cut the popcorn bag out of scrap paper because this bear actually had his arm around something else that I had to cut out of the graphic.  The clown on the 'Say Cheese' tag had someone else in front of him too, I just hid half of him behind the curtain!