Perfect Specimen

 

When I saw this funky colour combination over at Colour Hues Challenge #22 I knew it deserved a funky subject matter!  

And these previously NBUS Tim Holtz Funky Insects fit the bill - perfectly you might say!  I'm not a huge fan of insects - especially the flying ones!  Very few things freaked me out more than Bogong Moths and Christmas Beetles.  My older brother thought it would be hilarious to throw a Christmas Beetle in the bathroom while I was in the bath one night - I would only have been 6 or 7 at the time!  When I was a little older I had a traumatic experience with a bogong moth and my (then) long frizzy hair!  To be fair it was probably more traumatic for the bogong moth!  Any yet when I saw this Funky Insects Die set I just had to have it!  Therapy??

But how to use it - one of the reasons it's sat in a drawer for ages!  I saw a challenge last week for Frames, which made me think of a specimen in a collection which then the led me to the idea of using this "perfect" die (Verve Amazing Adjectives).  I can't find said challenge, so I guess I missed it but would like to thank them for the inspiration!

I have been looking at this inspiration photo from Inspirational Challenge #279 for 3 weeks now - two previous attempts ending up taking me in different directions!   It's closing shortly and I had resigned myself to not getting anything finished in time when it occurred to me I had already been inspired!  The lime green combi van and that strip of aqua sea were very likely why this colour combination appealed to me so much!  

As the idea for this card began to grow, I thought I'd check out other challenges for further inspiration.  You can imagine my surprised and delight I was when I came across Shopping Our Stash Challenge #450 which had the prompt "Quit Bugging Me"!

Other challenges I'll be entering are Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge where the prompt is "Out with the Old and In with the New".  The Funky Insect die is new (for me) and the frame dies are old and much loved dies!  

Since the Funky Insect Die set is NBUS, I'll be entering this card in NBUS Challenge #28

Finally I took a closeup photo of the beetle so you can get a look at his eyes - creepy yet mesmerising as they are!  I placed a small drop of glossy accents and worked it into the crevices around the eye socket and then sprinkled them with ultra fine blue glitter.  When dry, I gave the eye sockets two more coats (without glitter) until they bulged and then covered the whole upper carapace.

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed your visit.  If you leave a comment, I’ll be over the moon!  I’ll also know you were here, so I can check out what you’ve been up to and we can get better acquainted!

Kate