Baby Bear Card

Stampin' Up! was the catalyst for my longtime interest in stamping, and I was a Stampin' Up! demonstrator on and off for years (mostly as a "hobby demo" (in it for the discount to feed my hobby)--I am not a salesperson no matter how much I love a product!

Anyway, several years ago they came out with a stamp set called Baby Bear that included several stamps that layered together to create a photo-like image. I loved it!

I stamped that bear about a year ago, and left it, unused and forgotten. 

I had a break from work this past week, so I tackled my craft area. It feels SO GOOD to have it more organized and straightened up--it's as if I can breathe again.

Now with an clean workspace, I looked through some backgrounds I'd done and...this little bear was hiding among the unused backgrounds. Right away I knew what I wanted to do: make another background!

(Close up--I just love the detail from layering the stamps!)

I decided to go with the softer look of Distress Oxides over regular Distress Inks--and I didn't want to splatter/drip water or anything--just a sweet soft look with blue and pink, but also the lovely merge of the two into purple. (I had grand ideas of adding yellow (because why stick to traditional "boy" and "girl" colors?) but ended up just loving it like this. Sometimes less is more.

This stamp set (Baby Bear) is discontinued by Stampin' Up!, so you'd have to scoop it up from a reseller. 

The bow in the set is also a layered-stamp image, though I decided on a 3D element with white twine (I got mine from Stampin' Up!) attached with a mini glue dot.

I used 2 Ranger/Tim Holtz Distress Oxide colors: Peacock Feathers and Picked Raspberry.

I blended them using the Domed Foam applicators from Scrapbook.com--these have really helped me with adding color for backgrounds.

I cut out the circle shape using a circle die from Nestabilities.

I stamped the bear freehand, but I highly recommend using a stamp positioner!