Rocky Raccoon meets FMSC #559

I really like having a sketch challenge to give me inspiration for creating a card, so I thought I'd play along with Jen Timko over at Freshly Made Sketches challenge #559.

Here's My Card:
As I've mentioned before, we live on the edge of the Discovery Trail forest in Abbotsford. With the drought this summer we've had a lot of animals accessing our property looking for water and food and recently we've had recurring visits from three raccoons.  They aren't shy and visit during the day and late evening drinking water from the base of my plant pots and scooping up grubs along the concrete edge.

This threesome is probably a mother and her two juveniles and they aren't afraid of us. So far they haven't touched or broken anything, on their visits. For our part, we don't feed them, handle or encourage them in any way, we just watch and enjoy their brief visits. 

All Bundled Up 8 piece red rubber cling stamp set from the July -  December Holiday Mini catalogue. 

When I was deciding what elements to use for this sketch challenge I was influenced by these raccoons and to use the sweet little raccoon image in the All Bundled Up stamp set.   Just look at this little "Rocky Raccoon", too cute! 

Stampin' Up! Products Used:

Stamp Sets:

• All Bundled Up Stamp Set 
• Checks and Dots Embossing Folder for Circle 

Card Stock and Paper:  

• Whisper White 8 1/2 x 5 1/2" for the card base, scored at 4 1/4".  A 4" x 5 1/4" piece for the inside of the card.  A 3" circle for the card front and a scrap for the white snowflake die cut.
• Highland Heather - 4" x 5 1/4" mat for card front, 3 1/4" scrap for circle mat on card front, Scrap for the snowflake die cut. 
• Gorgeous Grape - small scrap for snowflake die cut 
• Specialty Paper:  3 3/4" x 4" piece of Silver and Gold DSP (retired from  July Sale-A-Bration 2022) for mat layer on card front,

Ink:

• Momento Ink for Raccoon
• Gorgeous Grape for the "Merry Christmas" sentiment (from retired All That Glimmers)
• Stamping Blends:  Light and Dark Smokey Slate, Light and Dark Highland Heather, Light Flirty Flamingo, 
• Nuvo Drops clear for nose and eyes

Dies:

• Snowflake is from Celebrations Tag Dies #159866
• Circles are from retired Stitched Circles die set.
• The Merry Christmas tag was hand cut with scissors.  

Well that's it for this FMSC #559 sketch and I hope you've enjoyed my rendition.  Let me know your thoughts on this stamp set and my cards.  Very appreciated.

Happy Stamping!
Penny Tokens Stampin' Spot

Penny Hanuszak, CDN Independent Stampin' Up! Demo

All Bundled Up for a Paper Craft Crew Challenge - #490

Today I'm created another Christmas card for my stash using a vertical sketch challenge from the Paper Craft  Crew Challenge, #490.  

Here Is My Card:

I'm using a stamp set called All Bundled Up #159824 from Stampin' Ups! July to December 2022 Mini Catalogue.

The forest animals dressed in their fuzzy hats and winter scarves really caught my eye  but it was the moose that captured my heart.  I'm a Canadian, so trust me when I say any moose picture whether it's of a real animal or just a caricature are such iconic symbols of our homeland. This one literally made me stop in my tracks because of his size, and sweet face and I could envision all kinds of cards and projects made with this image. 

Along with the raccoon, bunny and cute little song bird, this 8 piece cling stamp set also has three pretty cool winter sentiments which I've used on both the inside and outsides of my cards. It doesn't get any better than that!

Before colouring the moose, I spent some time looking through my stash of Christmas designer papers (dsp).  I knew I had some with snowflakes and thought that would make a perfect winter backdrop for this image.  I chose a piece from last year's selection that showcases a variety of white snowflakes on a blue and mauve background. These non-traditional colours at set the tone for my card.

I started with an 8 1/2 x 11 Whisper White card base. Next I added a 5 3/8" x 4 1/8" mat of Fresh Freesia cardstock, followed by a 5 1/4" x 4" Whisper White mat. The dsp mat measures 3 3/4" x 5" and the 1 3/4" strip of dsp comes from the recently retired Sale-A-Bration papers and is a white background with silver dots.

There aren't any coordinating dies for this stamp set, so I used my small detail scissors to fussy cut the moose.  I coloured it with my dark and light Crumb Cake Stamping Blends and used a combo of light and dark Fresh Freesia Blends for his hat and scarf. When I  fussy cut an image I leave a small margin of white around the figure.  For this image I coloured in the margin with a Gray Granite blend so it didn't stand out. 

The three inch Fresh Freesia circle was die cut and embossed with the Whimsical Wonderland embossing folder (pg. 39 Mini Catalogue) and I added a Whisper White snowflake cut from the Celebrations Tag Dies (pg. 67 Mini Catalogue).  

Whimsical Wonderland Embossing Folder 

Celebrate Tags Dies coordinate with the Celebrate with Tags Stamp set.

I chose the Merry Wishes sentiment from the Window Wishes (pg. 36 Mini Catalogue) for this card because I wanted a smaller sentiment to balance out the placement on this card. I stamped the sentiment in Gorgeous Grape ink so it would stand out. The die used to cut it out is from the Celebrate Tags Die set.

Although you can't see it in these pictures, I added a bit of glimmer with Wink of Stella to  the beautiful snowflake and to those pearly white teeth on the moose. I also added a bit to the pom pom on  the hat and the hooves.  

I hope you enjoyed this quick and easy card.  I am such a traditionalist and normally do my cards in reds and greens, so this colour scheme isn't something I would normally do.  Having said that it's really charming and I quite like it.  How about you, let me know if you dabble with non-traditional colours in your Christmas projects.  I'd love to know what your favourite non-traditional colour scheme is.  

Happy Stamping!
Penny Tokens Stampin' Spot 

Penny Hanuszak, CDN Independent Stampin' Up! Demo

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