For the love of penguins

Or for the love of someone who loves penguins. This week’s Sizzix blog hop project didn’t start out with any theme at all. I had a pre-cut set of pieces and parts for Karen Burniston’s new 3-D Twist Cube. I knew I wanted to doodle something of my own. As always I had penguins on the brain along with the thought that Nov. 11 is Veteran’s Day and hmmmmm, what should I do?

And this is what came out of my indecisiveness, a little doodling, a little feel of history and a little penguin love. All wrapped up in a handy package that can fit in your pocket (I’m a fan of pocket fitting treasures you know).

I really enjoy projects the most when they kind of dictate themselves what they will become. I realize penguins have nothing to do with honoring our service men and women.. but the love and care absolutely does. I wanted this to feel like something that was just discovered… a piece of the past that was important enough to remember and bring out today.

Love, of what, it could be anything.

Big Thank you thoughts
to all the Veterans!

I decided to paint since I don’t take the opportunity away from the computer as much as I should. So, this design was created using various paints and a brown Prismacolor marker. I started with a white paint marker by MARVY on the black paper that was originally given to me. The paper had a distinct texture which allowed me to leave some black showing through. Then I sketched out the rough design with a cream colored paint pen. I came back through over the design with a gold paint pen and then the brown marker.

After the detail lines dried thoroughly, I added a light wash of a golden brown craft acrylic. Then I layered details of color to add the accents and aging look. Using a rather dry brush helps to create this kind of look. Finally I added highlights with a fine tipped brush and a cream shade paint.

The whole piece twists down into a cute little package that can be tied with a simple raffia ribbon and given as a special gift in a greeting card to a favorite penguin pal.

I’m amazed at how cool this Sizzix 3-D Twist Cube is. It’s fun to make and can be decorated a gazillion different ways. Check out all the other fun ideas created with this piece in this week’s Sizzix Blog Hop:

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