Arctic exploration

I've got a couple of cards today both of which took me on a journey of exploration to the arctic and into some new techniques for me.

Firstly I have been itching to try color burst powders as I've seen people do great things with them but had no idea how they actually work so I've had a little go - it wasn't all success but out of failure comes knowledge of what to do better next time - and I salvaged enough bits to make a few cards too.

Firstly - stick your watercolour paper down so it won't bend as you want it really wet (lesson 1), so I stuck my second piece to my makeart station.  (see below)   Second - GO LIGHTLY!  A little goes a VERY long way.  Too much makes a dark muddy mess (ask me how I know!)  So just wet your paper, gently drop a few crumbs of powder and watch the magic happen!

As I felt I went too heavy on my second piece, I actually decided to see if I could take a print off it, and I actually got 2.  Still a bit muddy but not bad for my first attempt.

I used one of prints to make the background for my first card but die cutting a "good bit" with the Avery Elle Star Scene Die - I thought it was the perfect backdrop for my pensive Polar Bear.

I coloured him with pencils, fussy cut him and paper pieced on a spotted scarf before finishing the card with a snowy hill and a sentiment from Stamping Bella's Christmas Sentiments set that I thought worked perfectly with his pensive look.

I really love the new Polar Bears from Stamping Bella so I decided to do another one whilst I'm in the arctic mood.

For this one, I went with an icy background created using the Faceted Turnabout stencil from Concord and 9th mixing it up with 2 pale shades of ink and two sparkly embossing powders to give it a really icy-fractal feel.  Once I'd finished my 6x6 inch piece, I die cut a dome from it using the Stitched Domes from MFT (sorry currently oos but on back order) and I actually managed to get 2 large and small from the one piece so a little work gives me 4 focal element backgrounds - bonus!

For this bear I used my copics - just a the palest two shades of warm grey plus a hint of putty - because I knew I was going to fussy cut him, I started my strokes beyond the bottom line as I find it easier that way.  I wanted the bundle girl to feel really snuggled, so thought I'd paper piece her - I just used some scraps from my stash and then used white puff embossing powder on her hat bobble.

The sentiment comes from the brand new set from Waffle Flower Crafts - Holiday Hugs - but as you can see, they work for non-Christmas events too and I loved how this fitted perfectly around the polar bears foot, all adding to that feeling of a tight squeezed hug!

Hope you're all feeling suitable chilly now ;-)

NEWS FROM THE STORE

Lots of things are due this week - all depends on how busy orders are as to how quickly we get it all online:

• Neat & Tangled's latest two releases should be added tomorrow
• MFT's MEGA new release will be in store on Tuesday afternoon - it's a killer so we expect fast sell outs and no guarantees we will be able to restock before Christmas.
• Altenew's latest releases are in transit
• The brand new release from Colorado Craft Company is also in transit
• We have the latest release from Lil' Inker Designs on order and are awaiting a shipment date
• The gorgeous new release from Concord and 9th is also on order and normally ships a few days after release so we should have it around the 15th October fingers crossed.

That's all for now - I need to go and get our food shop done before the supermarkets close and we starve this week.

Laters

Tara