Merry and Bright

Hi friends, it’s Monday and I’m back again with my last inspiration as a Guest Designer for the Sugar Pea Designs blog. Can you guess who will be the protagonist of my last card?

That’s him, the giant bear from “Hey Honey” stamp set! I love Sugar Pea’s bears (in case you missed it!) and this one is perfect for every occasion. He is really big, something unique in the stamping world. I have already done a Christmas card with him back in September, but I couldn’t resist to use him again.

On a piece of Neenah Classic Crest White I stamped the big face using a no-line ink and I hand drew the scarf and the reindeer antlers full of Christmas decorations. I then colored everything using copic markers. I went for a really simple color palette: blue, light blue, red and beige. I have never used it before but I really love how those colors work together.

When everything was colored, I carefully fussy cut the bear and I put him aside while working on the background.

I took out the “Geo Snowflake Stencil” – if you love geometrical patterns you won’t resist this one! – and I added some ink using Distress Oxides in Stormy Sky and Tumbled Glass. Since my background panel was bigger than the stencil, I started from the top and then shifted the stencil to continue the geometrical pattern. I let the ink dry (Oxides are a little bit longer as they have pigments) and then I used a Silver embossing powder to emboss the sentiment, which comes from “Oh so Jolly Sentiments”. I really love hand-lettered sentiments like the ones in this stamp set: for a better result, I suggest you to heat emboss twice, you will get a “stronger” sentiment.

I added the bear using foam tape and I cut the panel to 3,75”x6,5”. I decided to matt the panel using a bigger piece of blue cardstock and then some sparkling silver cardstock. I love adding sparkle cardstock to my holiday cards! To complete the project, I also added some Clear Sparkling sequins near the bear.

I really hope you will like my final inspiration. Now, I just want to take a moment to thank Wendy, Stephanie and all the SugarPea Designs team for the opportunity they gave to me, it was such a pleasure to play with their products and share my cards on their blog. Thanks so much!

Hugs from Italy, Sara