I love the Cold & Cuddly Stamp set - its one of those unusual sets and is packed with little goodies!
I also fell in love with the idea of making a snowglobe card shape - and this set presented me with the perfect opportunity!
Making a Set of Cards
Needing 11 cards for a swap, I chose this stamp set and went to work! It's not hard to make a set of cards once you design the first one. After the designing stage, I merely set up an assembly line so-to-speak. I stamped all the polar bears, and all the ice floats onto cardstock. Then here's the fun part - I put the stamped sheets in a plastic folder and took them with me in my tote. I stop off every morning for a coffee at Tim Ho's usually, and there I whip them out and cut them apart whilst I sip on a cup of java....you need to find a way to make things go smoothly I always say!
OK - next stage, I made a template of the snow globe out of thin cardboard and traced it twice. Once the entire piece on to Bashful Blue cardstock; and then again partially onto pre-cut squares of Brilliant Blue cardstock. I took my sweet time cutting them - one or two at a time when I had a chance. If you're in a hurry - don't do shapes such as these mind you...stick to rectangles, etc. Or be like me, and start making these 1 week in advance - I'm just sayin'! LOL!
Before assembling the cards, I needed to do the backdrop to create a sense of his environment....I used our white gel pen, and made a line to separate sea from sky. Then switching to a rag, I dragged some white ink (cover the card above with paper) to imitate ici-ness of the North Sea. I also did the same with a little darker blue ink so there was all the tones from light to dark. Now I'm ready to add the ice flo and the bear. I knew he was going to be staring up at the stars, so I set him on the ice flo as such. Glued everything in place.
To add sparkle, I used a VersaMark Pen and traced some lines where I thought it should sparkle and quickly sprinkled on glittery embossing powder, heated it till set. I stamped the large star (really a snowflake stamp) and did the same.
Now almost done, I added the 'stars' and for these you make like small blots - mix it up between small blots and larger ones, group some, etc. Just like a clear blue evening full of stars! I even threw in some streaking meteors by dragging the gel pen - just a little. Perhaps that is what has the bear's rapt attention!
I decided to stamp my greeting on the base of the 'snowglobe'.....and this swirly greeting does the trick, although any would do. If I had any of the fake snow, I might of added that too!
Oh - here's a serendipitous tidbit - last spring, while experimenting around, I "speckled" a 12x12 sheet of paper by flicking Bashful Blue refill ink from a toothbrush randomly over it. But then I didn't know what to do with it - so I just stashed it. All of sudden, it occured to me that it would make a perfect background for an ice flo...pretty neat, huh!
Well - they are done and are in the hands of their new owners via our swap - I hope they are enjoyed, I kinda think they will be! :)
