Christmas Card Club - Polar Bears of Teddy Bears

Valery chose Polar Bears or Teddy Bears for our Christmas Card Club Challenge this time. I was a bit stumped at first, but then remembered that Stampin' Up! set Cookie Cutter Christmas has a very cute bear and to be honest I had not used it before being drawn to the gingerbread man, Santa and Rudolph stamps instead.  However he's turned out to be perfect and I've teamed him up with some stickers from the Stampin Memories and More Santa's Workshop card pack, to give him a hat and cane. Once again the new Buffalo Check background stamp looks different in another colour namely Poppy Parade stamped onto card of the same name.

A handful of red rhinestones that I'm really finding useful for Christmas projects and a silver foil Happy stuck down by using the double sided adhesive sheets on the back of the foil card before die cutting it.  This helps you to cut a piece just the right size for the die.  The Christmas was stamped and heat embossed with white powder and die cut.

Now I started this challenge with a great plan to create a spinner card with the bear on a bauble and it got a little messy and complicated, but slowly it turned around and I'm happy to share although it isn't quite as elegant as I had planned, but then it is a spinner card with a teddy.

Using the Detailed Baubles Thinlits Dies I created an aperture for the spinner to fit inside and then I used a layering circle to cut one slightly smaller than the aperture.  I actually cut 2 in Pool Party and then stamped with the small Poinsettia flower from Dashing Deer and heat embossed a patterned in white.  I stamped and punched out the teddy from the Cookie Cutter set.  I added a layer of fine tip glue to the baubles and waited for it to dry as I was trying to create a sheen across the baubles. I added too much glue and so it was taking too long to dry.  I decided to add a teddy to each circle and push them down into the glue and then brushed of much of the glue so now instead of having a sheen they look more like papier mache which is fine just not what was planned.  I had to wipe off much of the glue so that the colour of the stamped bears didn't run.  It did a bit on the bow ties so to salvage I added another punched tie for each side.  Once done I left it to dry in the hope that all would not be lost.  It's turned out ok I guess in the end.  

 Now it was a little fiddly bringing it all together, but I used some silver cord from my stash and threaded it through the outer pretty border and by adding lots of double sided tape on each back of the bear circles I was able to secure it in the middle of the two circles.  I added pearls and a bow along with some more red rhinestones to enhance the bauble.

All's well that ends well and I think it would please a young child if not me! 

Remember the other ladies will have gorgeous creations to inspire you so please do visit their blogs via the Christmas Card Club button at the top of my blog, but just before you go here's a couple of pics of bears we saw in Canada on our trip this summer. 

Bears seen on our extended trip to Vancouver

I love bears

Happy Sunday all, hope you have a great week. I'm going to be busy visiting the hospital for my pre-op appointment with the hope that the scheduled operation the following week to fix my Achilles will go ahead.  Wish me luck.  

Hugs Zoe x

Challenges

Winterwonderland Challenge - use ribbon or twine

CHNC # 403 - Use gingham, check

Die cutting Divas - Any animal

Stampin' Up! Cheers to the Years for Achiever's Blog Hop

Stampin' Up! Incentive Trip Achievers Blog Hop

Welcome to this fun blog hop showcasing sneak peeks from the upcoming Stampin' Up! Winter catalogue due to go live to everyone on 1 September.  It is a real ecclectic mix of seasonal treats and I truly believe there is something to satisfy everyone's tastes.

I've used the Cheers to the Years stamp set for this simple, elegant wedding card, yes you read it right, a wedding card from the winter catalogue. We're still mid wedding season and I have fallen in love with this set which has good wishes for the new year, snowflakes and some simple stamps that can be used for wreaths or for abstract design.

My design layer started life as a piece of whisper white to which I added a clear heat embossed design using one stamp.  I then added pool party ink to using a sponge brayer.  I carefully added some copper embossing being careful to use my embossing buddy and to heat the design from underneath to avoid too much blending between the white and copper embossing.  I've also added some individual silver mini sequins and tiny white hearts from the Cookie Cutter Builder punch.  The sentiment is included in the Cheers to the Years set and that too is heat embossed with copper powder before being put under the sponge brayer treatment to make it blend with the background.

The inside has a small amount of design and adds the additional part of the sentiment from the same set.

If you don't have a demonstrator and would like to know more about Stampin' Up! products please email me at zoetant@live.co.uk. I will happily send you a complimentary copy of the winter catalogue for you to browse. 

You can also get more sneak peeks by carrying on with the blog hop from me, Zoe Tant, here in the UK.

SHOP NOW

More sneak peeks coming soon Zx