Mum and Baby Polar Bears

One of the images on the new Peace on Earth mood board is the sweetest picture of a mother and baby polar bears.  It reminded me of a stamp I have of a sweet baby polar bear riding on its mother's back.

I stamped and watercoloured image, trimmed with a square die, bordered with gold shimmer paper to match the gold paint I used for the stars, and then dotted on a few snowflakes with a white Posca paint pen (not sure they show up in the photo). Here's the mood board:   Head over to Peace on Earth to see the rest of the Design Team's interpretations.

Supplies:
Stamps - Crafters Companion
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - watercolour paper, off white cs, gold shimmer paper
Size - 4.75" square
Accessories - watercolour paints, gold paint, white Posca paint pen, Spellbinders square dies

Icy Polar Bears and Cosy Winter

ABC Christmas Challenge is "Y for Your Favourite Colours and / or Z is for Zoo Animals".  My favourite colours are blue and white, and I love them for snowy winter Christmas cards.  And polar bears are sometimes found in zoos.

 

 

I used a few shades of blue Distress inks, tapped them on my craft mat, added a bit of white shimmer paint and a bit of iridescent medium, spritzed all with water, and smooshed and dragged my watercolour paper in it. I die cut the polar bears twice out of white cs and glued them together before adding them to the smooshed panel. I die cut the sentiment, leaving the letters inside their outer section (much easier than gluing on each individual letter!).

 

Can You Handle the Pressure? wants an embossing folder and the theme of winter.  Sparkles Christmas Challenge wants "warm and cosy".

Stamped, watercoloured, popped up on fun foam on a background run through a snowflake embossing folder.

 

Supplies for card 1:
Ink - various blue Distress inks
Paper - watercolour paper, white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Tsukineko Frost White liquid paint, Windsor & Newton Iridescent Medium, polar bear die, sentiment die

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Stamplorations
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - white cs, mixed media cs
Size - A2
Accessories - watercolour paints, Cuttlebug snowflake embossing folder, fun foam

A Partridge and Some Polar Bears

Festive Friday is asking us to celebrate the Twelve Days of Christmas.  We had to include at least three items from their list (see at the bottom of this post).  I have the partridge and the pear, there is gold in my background paper, and it's a Christmas card.

The image is watercoloured, trimmed with a stitched die, and popped up on fun foam on some dp.

Next up is a card for the Tic Tac Toe Challenge.  I chose the diagonal line that says Snow / Arctic Animal / Slimline.

The snowy background was created with a snowflake embossing folder and vellum.  I took a piece of navy blue cs and die cut "winter wishes" along the bottom.  I taped the vellum above that and folded it over the top edge and secured the top of it on the wrong side.  I die cut the polar bears and layered that over the bottom edge of the vellum (thus hiding the tape behind the vellum).  It's all added to a mini slimline card base.

Festive Friday

NBUS (Never Before Used Stuff) challenge - I've never used that stamp before.

 

Tic Tac Toe Challenge

 

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Inky Doodles
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - watercolour paper, K&Co dp, cream cs
Size - A2
Accessories - watercolour paints, Lil Inker stitched rectangle die, fun foam

Supplies for card 2:
Paper - white and navy cs, vellum
Size - 6.25x3.25"
Accessories - snowflake embossing folder, polar bear die, TH winter wishes die

Polar Bears, a Cabin, and a Sentiment

The month is flying by and I've got some challenges I want to enter.

First up, did you know there was such a thing as Polar Bear Day?  Well there is, and part of the reason is to draw attention to the world's largest carnivore and the threat of extinction facing it.  The Day of the Month Card Club Challenge chose it for its February challenge.  And polar bears are perfect for the Paper Players wildlife challenge.

Stamped and watercoloured, then trimmed and put on a gold shimmer panel that has "merry" die cut out of it.

Moving on to Christmas Cards All Year Round where they want to see a cabin or cottage.

I kept it simple to let this lovely detailed image take centre stage.  Stamped in navy, trimmed and bordered with navy cs, and glitter added to all the snowy places.  In real life, it's lovely and sparkly.

And finally, a chance to use up a strange piece of background from my UFO box.  The Christmas Kickstart Challenge wants the sentiment to take centre stage.

I don't know what I was thinking when I made this background - I sprayed some gold spray on navy cs, then scrunched up some cling wrap on top and let it dry.  Then added two types of Frantage embossing powder (one with chunky white bits, one with smaller white and gold bits) and heat embossed from underneath.  I was going to toss it and then decided to try using it for this challenge with just a gold die cut sentiment and a few die cut gold stars.  To add a bit more interest (as if there wasn't enough going on already), I die cut the navy panel with a hemstitch rectangle and layered it over a gold card base to co-ordinate with the sentiment and stars.  So what's the verdict - a hot mess (as Jennifer McGuire likes to say) or a passable attempt at mixed media?  Believe me, you won't hurt my feelings as I'm quite ambivalent about this one!

Challenges:

Day of the Month Card Club Challenge - "Polar Bear Day"

 

The Paper Players - "Wild about Wildlife"

 

Christmas Cards All Year Round - "Cabin / Cottage"

Christmas Kickstart Challenge - "The Sentiment Takes Centre Stage"

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Penny Black
Ink - Archival Jet Black
Paper - watercolour paper, gold shimmer and cream cs
Size - A2
Accessories - watercolour paints, TH merry die

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Crafty Individuals cabin, Penny Black sentiment
Ink - Versafine Clair Twilight
Paper - white and navy cs
Size - A2
Accessories - glitter

Supplies for card 3:
Paper - navy and gold cs
Size - A2
Accessories - gold spray, cling wrap, Stampendous Frantage embossing powders, Spellbinders hemstitch rectangle die, Memory Box star dies, Penny Black sentiment die

Polar Bears against a Pearly Winter Sky

The Paper Players want to see Winter Animals on a CAS card.  I went with polar bears.  And there are a bunch of January challenges that want blue (as many of you know, it's my favourite colour).

 

The background was created with the faux mother of pearl technique using various blue Distress inks and a silver pearlescent paint.  I added the die cut bears (cut twice and stacked for more dimension) and a star of wonder die cut.

The Paper Players

AAA Cards Clean and Simple Challenge

Colorful Options - "Winter Blue"

 

The Sisterhood of Crafters - "The Color Blue"

The Four Seasons Challenge - "Anything Goes Winter"

Tic Tac Toe Challenge - I chose the diagonal line "Winter, CAS, Free"

 

 

  

Supplies:
Stamps - Simon Says Stamp sentiment
Ink - various Distress blue inks, Distress Faded Jeans for the sentiment
Paper - white cs
Size - 6x3.25"
Accessories - unknown bear die, Memory Box star, silver metallic paint