Christmas Penguin Ornament

I created this card inspired by the Wednesday Sketch Challenge #408 at My Favorite Things' blog. I used the penguin from Lawn Fawn's "Winter Penguin" stamp set, and Simon Says Stamp's "Christmas" set for my greeting. In addition to the sketch, I also took inspiration from this card I found via Pinterest. I liked the ornament look, & decided it went perfectly with this sketch!

I stamped the penguin onto a scrap of Strathmore Vellum Bristol paper that I'd die cut with a circle die. This paper is my new love for colored pencils, as it has just enough tooth to hold the pigment, without being too textured. I used Memento Tuxedo Black ink for the penguin. Then I masked him off and stamped the ice floe from Mama Elephant's "Arctic Penguins" set. By masking, it makes it look like he is on top of the ice. I colored the image with my Prismacolor colored pencils, adding shading to the ice with a bright teal pencil. I finished the image off by adding some clear Spectrum Noir Sparkle pen to the ice. I also inked around the perimeter of the circle with Tumbled Glass Distress ink, just to provide some definition.

For the greeting, I die cut a faux tape strip from more bristol with a die from My Favorite Things' "Blueprints 13" set (discontinued). I had to do a little partial die cutting, to shorten the resulting die cut. I cut apart the "Merry & Bright" stamp from the "Christmas" set, so I had just the "Merry." Then I lined up that and the "Christmas" stamp from the same set, and stamped them together on the strip, double-stamping with Hero Arts Soft Granite ink. I inked around the strip with Tumbled Glass, to tie it in with the ornament ball.

I cut a piece of patterned paper with the stitched rectangle die from "Blueprints 15" (discontinued). I then positioned one of the "Stitched Scallop Basic Edges" dies (also My Favorite Things) centered at the top of the panel. After running that through my die cutting machine, I repeated the process to cut the bottom edge.

For the "ornament" topper, I die cut a piece of silver glitter cardstock with a die from "Blueprints 13." I cut off just a small portion, and glued it to the back of my circle die cut, letting about 1/2" peek out above the top of the circle. I taped some grey baker's twine to the back of the topper with Scor Tape. I then popped the whole ornament up on my patterned paper with foam tape. I ran the twine up the panel and over the top, then taped the other end on the back. I adhered my patterned paper to an A2-size panel of dark green cardstock. I adhered the greeting strip with foam tape on the ends, and glued flat to the bottom of the ornament. Finally I mounted the finished card panel to a white card base, and glued on a bow tied from more baker's twine.

I'm also entering this card in the following challenges:

Christmas Card Throwdown's October Technique Challenge: "Masking"
Through the Craft Room Door: "Anything Goes"