"I Like You Beary Much" Card and "Hang in There" Treat Box by Diane Mason

Hello, and welcome to another Watercolor Weekend!

It’s a Panda kind of weekend! Yesterday, Janet shared her beautiful “Panda Love” card, and today I’m excited to share a card and a treat box featuring Kim Hein’s recently released KH5821 – Panda Set. I've always adored panda bears. When I was a little girl, my Grandma made me a hand-painted ceramic panda for my birthday (see photo above), and I’ve treasured it all these years! When I saw Kim’s new panda set, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it and start creating!

"I Like You Beary Much" Card:

To begin, I traced a rectangle die from the 5724 – Nested Rectangle Dies with a pencil onto my Canson XL watercolor paper to define the border of my painting and used Post-it tape to mask the edges. I then lightly sketched a horizon line to aid in the placement of the panda bears. The pandas were inked in N35 and stamped off once before adding them to my scene. I made masks for both pandas and stamped the bamboo behind the bears in 158. For the pandas, I pulled color from the stamped images with a damp brush to define the dark areas of the bears. From my palette, I brushed in N35 to add color and contours. For contrast and shadows in the dark areas, I used N25. For the white areas of the bears, I added shadows with a touch of watery 526. The bamboo was painted with a combination of green colors. I pulled color from the stamped image and added more 158. To add contours, I used 177, and for highlights, I used 133. For the forest floor, I brushed in 947 and a mix of 947/969 for the shadowed areas. Before adding the bamboo leaves, I brushed in a watery sky using 407. I placed the masks back on the bears and stamped the bamboo leaves in 177 onto the stalks, along the horizon, and in front of the bears. I removed the mask from the bear on the right and stamped a leaf into the bear's paw to make it look like it was munching on some bamboo. Using a #0 brush, I carefully defined the leaves.

With my scene now complete, I die-cut a piece of plaid patterned paper from the 5835 – Mini Journal Paper Pack and adhered it to the base of my A2-sized card. I die-cut a hemstitched frame to showcase my painting. To add an extra touch, I cut a few very thin strips of green cardstock to match my base and wove them into the hemstitched areas of the frame. I die-cut my painting, adhered the frame on top with foam tape, and then attached it to the card base.

For the interior of my card, I stamped the sentiment and bamboo leaves in green on white cardstock and adhered to the inside of the card. Now on to my next project…

"Hang in There" Treat Box:

I thought it would be fun to make a cute little treat box showcasing the panda bear just hanging out, relaxing in a tree. For the painting, I die-cut my watercolor paper using a rounded rectangle from the 5062 – Rounded Rectangle A2 Double Stitched Dies to fit the top of the box. I used Post-it tape to mask a border around the edges of the rectangle. I inked the panda stamp in N35 for the bear areas and in 969 for the tree. I painted the bear in the same way as I did for the card. The tree branches were painted with 969 and 977, the sky was painted with 407, and the leaves were stamped with 177.

I die-cut the treat box from green cardstock using the box die from 5805 – Mini Journal Box Dies and assembled it. Next, I cut a ¾ inch strip of blue cardstock to create a band to go around the box. To decorate the band, I die-cut three decorative border pieces from 5805 in kraft-colored cardstock and glued them to the strip. I then wrapped the band around the box, ensuring it fit snugly but not so tight that it couldn’t be slid off the box, and adhered the ends of the strip together. I centered the painting on top of the box and adhered it to the band. I also decorated the inside of the box. I stamped the sentiment from KH5821 in green ink onto white cardstock and die-cut the tag using the 5543 – Journal Template Die Set. I die-cut a second tag from green cardstock, layered it behind the white tag, and tied on some twine. For additional decoration, I pattern-stamped the leaves in 177 onto white cardstock and cut two rectangles measuring 2 1/8 x 2 6/8 inches to line the interior top and bottom of the box. I used foam tape to adhere the tag inside the box. Finally, I filled my treat box with some candy, but you could fill it with whatever you like! It could even serve as a gift box for a small item.

I had so much fun creating these projects using Kim’s new Panda Set, and I’m really happy with how they turned out. Thank you for joining me for another Watercolor Weekend! I hope you’ve enjoyed these creations. Until next time, Happy Painting!