Beary Merry Christmas

Ellen Hutson is having their November "Mix It Up" challenge at The CLASSroom blog. This month, they are mixing it up with My Favorite Things. The objective is to make a project using products from both companies. This is my first card for this challenge.

I began by die cutting a panel of kraft cardstock with a Lawn Fawn "Large Stitched Rectangle" die. I decided, since I don't have the coordinating dies for the Essentials by Ellen "Bear Ware 2" stamp set, I would do some masking. I created masks for the hat & scarf from "Bear Ware 2." I stamped the scarf & hat, then positioned & stamped the hat for the kitty. I masked the images, stamped the bear (from "All Inside") & kitty next. For the candy cane, I created masks for just the bear's arms from a full-sticky Post It note, and stamped the candy cane with the arms masked.

I colored the images with my Prismacolor colored pencils using Gamsol the blend the colors, & added a snow bank to the bottom of the panel. For the snowflakes, I used stamps from Lawn Fawn's "Deck the Halls" & "Winter in the Park" sets. I masked off the edges of the panel, just at the stitching lines, to keep a clean border. I stamped the snowflakes in Versamark ink, and heat embossed with Ranger Super Fine Detail White embossing powder. Rather than mask the images to stamp the snowflakes "behind" them, I just brushed off the powder from my critters with a dry paintbrush before I heat set it.

For the background, I die cut a panel of white cardstock with the next largest "Large Stitched Rectangle" die. I stamped the pattern with My Favorite Things' "Plaid Background Builder" set (apparently discontinued), adding in a stripe stamp from Simon Says Stamp's "Jumbo Stripes" set to supplement. I used Memento Tuxedo Black & Bamboo Leaves, and Hero Arts Red Royal & Forever Green inks for that. After I'd finished stamping, I felt the colors were a bit stark to go with my kraft panel. So I blended Antique Linen Distress ink over the whole background.

I stamped the greetings from "Bear Ware 2" onto a strip of white cardstock with Tuxedo Black, and cut them into shorter pieces. I adhered them to my kraft panel, and added a drop of Nuvo Ebony Black Crystal Drops at the end of each phrase. Finally, I adhered my kraft panel to the background, and mounted that to a white A2 card base.