Bee...Happy

***  if you've arrived here from the Creativations 2018 Tim Holtz Blog Hop and Give-Away, to continue hopping click HERE   ***

Hi folks, I know I freaked some of you out with my Entomology "lots of creepy crawlies" card so to make amends I'm sharing something a little more cute featuring some chubby bumble bees...

I trimmed a piece of Distress Watercolor Card to be slightly smaller than the A2 card blank and applied of wash of Fosslized Amber Distress Oxide ink with the Distress Broad Water Brush. I applied Wild Honey Distress Oxide through the Hive Mini Layering Stencil from Set 35 and Peacock Feathers Distress Oxide through the Dotted Mini Layering Stencil from Set 33. I inked the Script stamp from Entomology with Black Soot Distress Oxide and stamped randomly on the background and used the same ink to create splatters. I stamped the bees on to the background with Black Archival ink, traced the trails from the bees and around the edges in pencil and pricked using Tim Holtz Craft Pick. I then spent a relaxing afternoon with my feet up hand stitching.

I stamped the bees again on to Distress Watercolor card, coloured with Wild Honey and Tumbled Glass Distress Markers and cut out the body and wings only...I do enjoy fussy cutting but decided to pass on manoeuvring my way around all those legs. I used Tim Holtz/Sizzix Alphanumeric Thinlits to die cut the words...

and finished off using A Wink Of  Stella Clear Glitter pen to apply shimmer to the wings.

I'm always happy to see the bees who keep me company while I enjoy my first cuppa of the day on sunny summer mornings.They seem to love the Cotoneaster bush that grows right by the back door and it's fascinating to watch these beautiful insects with their chubby striped velvety bodies return time and time again throughout the day to collect pollen, working from dawn to dusk and I suspect that's where the saying "as busy as a bee" comes from.
Sadly bees are in serious decline globally, caused by loss of habitat due to intensive farming methods and over-use of pesticides and the world needs to wake up to the fact that if there are no bees to pollinate crops, future generations will have to exist on a diet with no fruit, vegetables, bread and many of the other foods we take for granted.

But there is a little bit of  "I'll BE very HAPPY news...

if this is a sign that Spring is just around the corner...

I'll be back throughout the week to share cards made with the Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Blueprint stamp sets shipping to a store near you in February.

Hugs Kath xxx