I’ll readily admit that I watched a lot of television growing up and still do. Perhaps that is why when I saw the new holiday “Beary Cute” stamp set from Stampin’ Up! the first thing I thought of was “Aw, he looks like the Coca-Cola bear.” Then I realized I actually had Coca-Cola scrapbooking paper that I bought more than 15 years ago. I knew if I just held onto it that someday I’d be able to use it. Hoarders, rejoice! That day had finally come. I was going to make a Coca-Cola polar bear Christmas card.
First card
I made the first card pretty quickly and really liked the result. The sentiment that said “Christmas is better Together” from the stamp set was great since it seemed like it could be a lyric from “I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing.” (Another Coca-Cola reference for you youngins!)
Of course, the Coke paper is not Stampin’ Up! So, I wanted to find something that could take its place, and that’s when I remembered the cola bottle from the “So Cool” stamp set! Woo-hoo! I set out to recreate the card…
Change the background
The only thing I really needed to do differently was the background. I wanted to recreate the paper as close as possible with the Stampin’ Up! stamp. After trying a few different reds, I found Poppy Parade to be the closest to the color of the Coke bottles. So that is what I used to make a repeating pattern on white card stock. I did two cards at once in case I messed one up and continued the stamping from one card to the other when they went “off the edge.”
Recreating the rest
With the background done, it was just a matter of recreating the rest. I used a stamp from an older set (Peaceful Penguins) for the hill swoop, and then cut the card stock along that curved line to create the hill. Some Poppy Parade baker’s twine from an old Paper Pumpkin card kit was wrapped around the hill, and then I stamped the bears in Basic Gray ink.
The matching punch took care of the big bear, and I fussy cut the little guy. White embossing powder on Basic Gray cardstock was used for the sentiment, and then cut out with a scalloped circle die. Red ribbon was used under the sentiment to make it stand out. I used Dimensionals to pop up the sentiment circle and bears, a few gems were added for sparkle, and that’s it.
Here are the final cards. Since I didn’t mess up, I now have two cards. I just made a few slight changes like the shape of the sentiment label and the gems used.
What do you think? Does Coca-Cola pop into your mind when you see polar bears at this time of year? I’d love to hear your feedback. Leave me a comment below.
Thank you for reading this post. I hope you enjoyed it and found some inspiration. And I really hope you have a wonderful holiday season, and a very happy new year. Don’t forget… keep on crafting. -Steve
