Polar Bears

IKEsWORLD

Challenge 124
Icy Christmas In September

Welcome back to the IKEsWORLD challenges :)  do pop on over to IKEsWORLD to join in the challenge, it is always so much fun and  Ike produces the most amazing stamps, everything from off the wall to cute and fluffy :) :) :)

For this months challenge them I have chosen to use the polar bear image which is part of the INUIT Set of 6 - World Tour Series, such an adorable family group of these stunning bears.  I printed the image and shaded some areas with Promarkers and then added a few layers of Sheen Douglas clear glitter pen to get a get a pretty glitter sparkle when seen in real light.  The image was then fussy cut and put to one side while I created the background.  Gelli printing is such fun and I usually do it with acrylic paint but I thought I would give it a go with alcohol inks a few weeks ago and it worked a treat.  Now I am a bit of a 'tight' crafter and hate spending loads of precious pennies when I think I can get away with spending less.  In the case of my alcohol inks I own a black, a red, a yellow and a blue as I guessed I could make most of the other colours from these 3 primary colours and black.  Not the easiest of methods but challenging and fun and a great way to learn a medium without spending a fortune.  Anyway, the one colour missing was something like a white, just diluting the blue with isopropyl alcohol mixed with glycerine did not give the icy blue I needed for this challenge.  Thinking cap time - alcohol - (yes I could have done with a glass of something at this point in time lol) but can you guess what came to mind - alcohol inks = what I bought in bottles and also my beloved Promarkers.  Would the promarkers work.  I raked out a few of the blue colours and scribbled all over my gelli mat then added blobs of alcohol blending solution, finally I took my card base and placed it on the gelli mat front side down and let it sit there for a few minutes.  Hurray, it worked, just perfect for what I wanted. When I knew it was dry I stamped the sentiment and snowflakes and heat embossed with white embossing powder.  To finish off, an organza ribbon band and bow and some icy blue diamond glass gems.  Oh I nearly forgot, I did do one more thing as the bears needed to be sitting on some ice, I had tried to draw this in but not the right effect so I went totally non eco friendly and used some nasty plastic which is meant to simulate snow I bought for the grandson last year for a school project.  The plastic is all chopped up into small bits - yuk but with some nice strong glue it did the job perfectly.  Yes, I do feel guilty about it being plastic but the gems are a plastic too and the ribbon, well no doubt it probably has a plastic in it and as for the embossing powder that sure looks like it has a plastic in it as well.  So here is a very 'plastic' card being created while showing the endangered polar bear and her next generation.  Oh dear, saying it all like that kinda shouts hypocrisy doesn't it.

Ingredients:-

• image - INUIT Set of 6 - World Tour Series by IKEsART
• colouring medium - Promarkers and Promarkers
• other items - alcohol blending solution, nasty - plastic show, white embossing powder, ribbon and gems.

I am entering this project into the following challenges:-

• 2 Crafty Critter Crazies (M, P1, E5, must have a critter) #30 - Anything Goes with a Critter
• Papercraft Business Challenge (M, P1, E3, any papercraft) #22 - There's a Bear in There + optional Anything Goes
• Pearly Sparkles Challenge (M, P1, E3) #44 - Add a ribbon and/or bow
• Christmas at Sweet Stampin' M, 2nd Wed, 2E - Anything Christmas with Option of Snow People 
• Cute N' Crafty Christmas  M, #17 Christmas/winter, Anything Goes