Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Masculine In Wilderness Mug of Truffles; my buffalo story

Today I made a Christmas gift for my hubby - well, actually it will be from our furbaby to her "daddy!"  It was for a challenge on Sudsol for Christmas gifts or boxes you had made...Since my husband loves the outdoors, I thought the In Wilderness stamp set by Stampin' Up would be appropriate - I had this mug where you can decorate the paper between the outside and inside. 
I cannot remember where you can buy these, so if anyone reading this post can provide that info, I would appreciate it!

I am showing several pictures of the mug from different angles so you can see the animals - buffalo, wolf, and eagle.  I used old mustard ink for the eagle, soft suede for the wolf, and chocolate chip craft pigment ink for the buffalo, since I wanted to watercolor it.  After I dabbed the colors on the confetti cardstock, I dabbed pastels over the wolf and eagle. 

I used the ink pads for my watercoloring with an aqua painter.  My husband really likes the watercolor effect, so now he will have his own watercolor project hand made by me!  Funny that I should have picked a stamp set with a buffalo, since I have seen several up close when we were in Yellowstone park last year....While we were driving through, we stopped several times to watch the wild critters in the road, alongside the road, take pictures, etc.  I really wanted a picture of a buffalo (they call them "bison" in Yellowstone) that was on the side of the road, but so did lots of other people.  We couldn't get close enough to get a picture, so I thought I would just hop out of our truck and trot across the road to get a closer picture of that bison....Brave, huh?

Unfortunately there is something about all the little stones in Yellowstone - they are small and slippery - and when I hopped out of the truck, there was an incline with those slippery stones....and of course I fell.  Now I don't have a problem with falling and getting right up, as I have done lots of ice and roller skating, and "learned" how to fall and pick yourself up and keep on going.  But this time I fell again, and realized I couldn't put any weight on my right foot.  Since I was down again for the second time, I looked at my right foot and saw that not only was my ankle all swollen, but my foot was turned in at a funny angle....not good!   So I started yelling for my husband, all the while worrying that the bison that was just across the road would get curious enough with my yelling to come and check me out!  My backup plan, in case he decided to do that, was to try and roll under the truck lol.  To make a long story short, I ended up having surgery to put in a 2.5" steel plate and 7 screws to repair my broken lower leg, which was removed after a year of healing later.

So I know what a bison looks like up close and was able to pick out colors to watercolor the bison in this mug!!  This was my first project where I did this much watercoloring, and it was fun to play with the colors.  I did some white highlighting and black shadowing too.  I tied on some seam binding ribbon, and last, but not least, since my husband loves chocolate, I filled it with yummy truffles.  There were too many truffles - one didn't fit in the mug, so I had to eat it of course!!  It was a white chocolate one, delicious!

Now I have to keep it hidden from my husband until Christmas (I swear he can sniff out chocolate better than our furbaby can sniff out treats!), and then remember where I hid it so I can put it under the tree!  Sometimes I have such good hiding places, I can't remember where they are....
Do you think my husband would miss one more of those truffles? 
Believe me, I have gotten as close as you want to get to an adult buffalo! 
But the orange baby buffalo are kinda cute...no way anyone is gonna get close to them with their protective mother!!

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