Handmade Lace Embellished Teddy Bear Card & the Aftermath of Irene & Lee

Sweet Teddy on my Lace Embellished Teddy Bear Card

My handmade card for today is a whimsical light blue, navy blue, and terracotta lace embellished teddy bear card.  This teddy bear card is blank inside and features a loveable stamped teddy bear that has been colored using gamsol and colored pencils (one of my favorite coloring techniques).  As you can tell from previous posts I like teddy bears and have used this particular teddy bear image on several other handmade cards.  If you would like to see some of the other cards I have made with this particular teddy bear image, then check out these posts: I Love You Teddy Bear Card in Cream, I Love You Teddy Bear Card in Teal, I Love You Teddy Bear Card in Shades of Pink, and Sparkling Roses and Teddy Bear Birthday Card. 

Before I get into the specifics of my lace embellished teddy bear card, let me tell you a little bit about my adventures with Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee.  Over the past two weeks my weather alert radio must have gone off at least 30 times with all of the watches and warnings for our area both day and night.  We had massive damage and flooding from Hurricane Irene here in the state of Connecticut and even more flooding from Tropical Storm Lee.  Over half of the state was without power and hundreds of roads were closed because of flooding and downed trees.

Seventy-five percent of our town was without power and there was tremendous flooding.  We were lucky because we didn't lose power.  We did have two trees come down, but they didn't hit anything.  Our yard looked like a blender from all of the leaves and branches that came down from the high winds and torrential rains.  Houses a block over from us were evacuated because of the flooding river and it looks like a few of them will be condemned due to the extensive damage.  This flooding was much worse than the flooding from this past spring.  To add insult to injury, we were just getting the area back on track when Lee came through and flooded the area again.  This has been the worse flooding in decades and has happened three times in the last 5 months.  Again, we are lucky because the only thing flooded around our house is the wetlands out back.

Here are a few pictures from post Hurricane Irene.

Leaf litter in backyard after Hurricane Irene

This is a portion of our backyard taken from a second floor window.  Looks like a weed whacker went after the trees.  Lots of branches and leaves everywhere.  Here's a closer view.

Leaf litter close up in backyard after Hurricane Irene

River flooded park and street

The above picture is the river flooding one block from us.  The street to the park just disappears into the river.  Below is a closer view of the sign so that you can get an idea as to the depth of the water.

No parking sign in rising river water

 

Definitely no parking here.  The water was high, muddy and flowing fast.

River flooded street with houses in background

The river is flowing down the street.  You can see the houses in the background among the trees.

Houses flooded by rising river

The houses are little islands in the middle of the flowing river.  As we watched pieces of people's lives floated by and sometimes got tangled in the tree branches.

Heartbreak caused by Hurricane Irene

Heartbreak...and little did they know that they would be reliving this scene a week later when Lee passed through our area.

River flooded ball fields

Here are the local ball fields just down the street from us.  These are but a few of the pictures we took of the flooding in the aftermath of Hurricane Irene.  Other parts of our state were hit much harder.  Pictures don't tell the whole story because you cannot see how fast and furious the water is running, smell the stomach turning odor churned up by the water, nor hear the sound as it rushes by carrying people's belongings with it.  The storm was frightening, but the devastation afterwards was worse.  Thank goodness for the strong community support in our area.

Now, on to more pleasant undertakings...my handmade teddy bear card. 

Handcrafting My Lace Embellished Teddy Bear Card

Card Statistics 

• Final Card Size: 5.5" tall x 4.25" wide
• Tools: teddy bear stamp, scoring board, paper cutter, scissors, ruler, teddy bear punch, blending stumps
• Materials: cardstock, scrapbook paper, cover stock, lace, adhesive, ink, gamsol, colored pencils, gel pens
• This card is available in my Polished Moxie Etsy Shop: Lace Embellished Teddy Bear Card

Front View of Lace Embellished Teddy Bear Card 

Handmade Lace Embellished Teddy Bear Card Front

My first step in creating this handmade card was to select my scrapbook paper.  I settled on a light blue paper with terracotta polka dots.  I used this paper to determine my color palette for the card of light blue, terracotta, and navy blue.  I scored light blue cardstock to make the card base for my teddy bear card.  This card is scored at the top so that it opens vertically from the bottom.  I set my card base aside and created the topper panel separately.

I made the topper panel with a navy blue cardstock base that I layered with terracotta cardstock and the polka dotted paper.  Where the cardstock and paper interface I affixed a piece of cream lace to add a little panache to the card.

For the image panel I stamped my teddy bear on cream cardstock and colored him using the gamsol and colored pencils technique.  To add a little dimension to sweet teddy's face I used black and white gel pens on his nose, eyes and mouth.  I completed the teddy bear image by matting it with navy blue cardstock.  I popped the completed image off the surface of my topper panel to add dimension and then affixed the completed topper to my light blue card base.


Angle Views of Lace Embellished Teddy Bear Card to Show Dimensions

Lace Embellished Teddy Bear Card set at right angle

Lace Embellished Teddy Bear Card set at left angle

The teddy bear image is slightly popped from the card surface so that it adds dimension over the lace.  I used silicone instead of foam dimensionals to achieve this effect.


Inside Panel of Lace Embellished Teddy Bear Card

Lace Embellished Teddy Bear Card Inside Panel

As with my front card panel, I created a separate inside panel and then affixed it to my card base.  For the inside card panel I used cream cardstock matted with navy blue cardstock.  To embellish the panel I used a strip of the polka dotted paper and matted it with navy blue and light blue cardstocks.

I also constructed an envelope from heavy cover stock to compliment my teddy bear card.  To decorate it I affixed a teddy bear punched from the polka dotted paper in the lower left corner.


Final Lace Embellished Teddy Bear Card and Envelope Ensemble

Lace Embellished Teddy Bear Card and Coordinating Handmade Envelope

A very simple and understated card.  I really like the lace embellishment.

This handmade lace embellished teddy bear card and envelope ensemble are available in my Polished Moxie Etsy Shop: Lace Embellished Teddy Bear Card.


Card Recipe Specifics

• Cardstock: The Paper Company, Wausau
• Patterned Scrapbook Paper: DCWV
• Cover Stock: Staples
• Teddy Bear Stamp: PSX
• Teddy Bear Punch: Martha Stewart
• Ink: Stazon black
• Prismacolor Pencils: crimson red, peach, light peach, beige, chocolate, dark umber, light umber, dark brown, chestnut, terracotta, burnt ochre, mediterranean blue, slate grey
• Gel Pens: Gelly Roll
• Tools: Martha Stewart scoring board, Making Memories paper cutter, blending stumps, scissors, ruler 
• Misc: adhesive, silicone adhesive, gamsol, lace
• Techniques: gamsol 

Thank you for visiting my blog and allowing me to share my handcrafted items with you. I hope you enjoyed your visit and will come back soon!

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