I have been sick all week so I’m not allowed out spreading my germs, I’m way too sick to do housework (hehe), so all that’s left is to amuse myself in my craft room. Of course a head full of cotton wool is not always conducive to creativity, but I am trying to soldier on.
stamps: Mermaid Stamp & Cut DC226 by Hero Arts; wording from Mermazing BB-45 by MFT; Fishing Net CS255 by KaiserCraft
dies: Swimming Seahorses 99115 by Memory Box; Seaweed/coral were from 3 different sets from my girlfriends stash cut out last camp
stencil: Mini Moving Vines 568s by The Crafters Workshop
inks: ‘Bells of Ireland Green’ Lindy’s Starburst Spray; Vintage Photo Distress Stain Sprays; various Distress Re-inkers; Jet Black & Sepia Archival Pads
accessories: Opaque Crackle Texture Paste; various Liquid Pearls and Stickles
INSTRUCTIONS:
Smear texture paste through stencil onto white card. Set aside to dry completely.
Cover white card with ink sprays. The Bells of Ireland is very shimmery with a touch of blue showing.
Cut large circle out of vines card and attach to folded backing card of dark moss colour. Cut out a smaller square of light moss card with smaller circle in center. Gold emboss fishing net over bottom left corner. Gold emboss inner circle. Sponge sepia ink around inside and outside edges of smaller card for shading. Attach Magic Mount onto back of smaller card and mount over main card.
Stamp and cut out mermaid and turtle, along with other dies. I usually use Distress re-inkers for colouring in as they have a lovely rich pigment which is easy to blend or dilute when applied with a water brush. Dry with a heatgun. Apply glitters or pearls where desired, then set aside to dry naturally. (I have to confess that I messed about with my green seaweed a few more times as I didn’t feel it stood out enough, but after my 3rd unsatisfactory attempt I had to leave it and move on with my life haha).
Attach all your pieces to main card. I used Magic Mount under parts of them that were sitting inside green circle.
For the wording, I masked off the bottom half and stamped top half directly onto card. This proved a little problematic due to the raised embossing. The bottom half I stamped onto white card, coloured to match, matted onto purple card and attached with double sided tape.
I just love the blue sparkly bits that catch the light in the green shimmer.
There are some really great wordings out there and this is one of them – love it!
stamps: Always be a Mermaid F17058 by Impression Obsession; Jellyfish D1711 by Print Blocks; Magical Mermaid set by Stampin-Up
Sometimes you just have to use what you’ve got. I was looking for something soft and swirly to put behind my mermaid and shells to link them, but could only find this butterfly corner die. So I just covered up the butterflies as best I could and made do.
dies: Mermaid CCE-279 by the Scrapping Cottage; Butterfly Corner Swirl from Paper Roses; Aquarium Fish 1132 by Poppystamps; Shells (from my girlfriends stash so unsure sorry)
Sometimes I like colourful chaos and other times I need empty spaces, softness and calm.
stamp: Mermaid CRP151 by Stampendous; wording (custom)
inks: Spun Sugar and Antique Linen Distress Stain Sprays for background.
Still thinking of ideas for teenage girl cards but have deviated towards Mermaids, which I feel are perfectly suitable as long as they’re not too cutsey looking.
I picked up this little mermaid stamp in Hawaii last year from the Rubber Stamp Plantation. The shells are from Inkadinkado’s ‘Down by the Seaside’ set 60-30059; Fish from Heidi Grace’s “Beyond the Sea’ set and Numbers from Kaiser Craft CS838.
Sometimes I end up with a card that looks nothing like I originally intended. This card was supposed to have a soft pink and white colour palette, swirly background and feminine, frilly mermaid. Where’d she go? Seems I can’t keep away from the colour turquoise, especially where water is involved. Though the pink is a little different for me (representing the pulsing of the blood through the ocean’s heart – or is that too deep?).
stamps: Mermaid SA2085 by Visual Image Printery; Secrets of the Sea QQ0840-F by Verses Rubber Stamps
die: Large Ringlets 98790 by Memory Box
Cover white card with Worn Lipstick Distress Stain. Dry.
Stamp mermaid into center of card. (I embossed her in white, but later changed direction. You can probably eradicate this step altogether).
Cut out Ringlets in white and glue onto card.
Stamp out wording in black Archival ink. (I used the masking technique to do this in 2 halves).
Squish some Broken China Distress Stain onto an acrylic block, pick up with paintbrush and colour in ringlets roughly, concentrating on bottom halves. Dry.
Apply Glossy Accents onto bottom half of individual ringlets and sprinkle some Broken China Distress dry Glitter over whilst still wet. Set aside to dry.
Meanwhile stamp out mermaid with black Archival ink onto scrap of white card. I used Distress Stains to colour her in with the help of a waterbrush. Cut her out. When background is dry, glue her into place.
Add finishing touches to mermaid – Stardust Stickles over fins and Mint Green Liquid Pearl dots down spine.
I distressed the edges of pink card and sponged with sepia ink before attaching to backing layers.
I Magic Mounted a little fish friend for her as an afterthought.
Can you tell I love mermaids? I finally bought Stampin-Up’s ‘Ruffled’ embossing folder and had a play. The base card was a shaving cream background on blue gone wrong, that I thought would be okay for this project. I ran a white pigment ink pad across the top of the ruffles to highlight and spritzed lightly with Picket Fence Distress Stain Spray. The stamps on this card are also from Stampin-Up (Magical Mermaid) except for the ship which is from Collections. The moon is a Fiskars hand punch and the fish are ‘Aquarium Fish’ from Poppystamps which I cut out in shrinky, painted in silver, then heatset to shrink.
Ruffled Embossing Folder used over inked background again. I stamped the octopus first.
stamps: Tell Me D13325 by Impression Obsession; Octopus by Rubber Stamp Plantation
dies: Shells D176E by Impression Obsession; Windswept Stems 99663 by Memory Box; Mermaid – I got on ebay, unsure of brand sorry. It was just a blank shape, I drew in her features and little turtle in her hand (which I think was supposed to be a shell, but hey, artistic licence is allowed).
Trying to get different looks from the same die. I chose soft colours for this mermaid one in contrast to the below samples which are the traditional darker blue & white palette. Can’t decide which one I like best. Maybe the crab… Which do you prefer?
Die is “Under the Sea Collage” 99703 by Memory Box
Little mermaids love water, but swimming around in sea water all day can turn their hair a horrid seaweed green, so occasionally they like to spoil themselves with a lovely big bubble bath and a blonde rinse!
stamps: Mermaid Bath 40-457 by Penny Black; Ducky B1998 by PSX; Fish #?; Picture Frame 200D by All Night Media
inks: Jet Black & Sepia Archival Pads; Clear Pigment Pad; Tumbled Glass, Shabby Shutters, Peacock Feathers, Evergreen Bough, Antique Linen, Mustard Seed, Spun Sugar & Victorian Velvet Distress Re-inkers
papers: Watercolour Card; White Matt Card; Hazel & Starmist Bazzill Cards; Gold Foilboard; Clear Film
accessories: Trellis Embossing Folder siz661369; Lumiere Metallic Olive Green Paint; Gold Embossing Powder; Stardust, Crystal & Diamond Stickles; Orange Tombow Pen; Olive Brad; Green Ribbon
adhesives: Two-sided Tape; Magic Mount; Glossy Accents
tools: Waterbrush; Sponge Block; Scissors; Big Shot Machine; Heat Gun; Circle Punches; Awl
INSTRUCTIONS:
- Place piece of white card into Trellis embossing folder and run through Big Shot machine. Pour some of the metallic green paint onto plastic palette and dip sponging block into it – you don’t need much, so be sparing! If you haven’t got a sponging block, make sure you use a fairly firm sponge. The idea is that the paint only touches the top embossed pattern and doesn’t seep into the hollows between. Once covered, set aside to dry.
- Stamp your mermaid onto watercolur paper in black archival ink or some other permanent ink (if you use dye ink, it will bleed when you add the wet watercolours). Colour in with Distress re-inkers with the aid of a waterbrush/paint brush. I often use re-inkers for colouring as they are a nice, thick concentrated colour. (Note: when using watercolours, you have to make sure each section of colour is dry before trying to add another colour next to it or they will leak into each other. Sometimes you want this, as I did for the waves, but sometimes you don’t. Problem with me is I get so excited playing with a new stamp that I forget this little fact until the damage is done. It looks like my mermaid is dying her hair blond and all the dye is running down her face and arms. Well, maybe she is!). Cut out mermaid and bath together. Sponge around lightly with sepia ink. Apply Crystal & Diamond Stickles to tail. Set aside to dry.
- Stamp duck on white card with black ink and colour with Mustard Seed re-inker. Add shading with orange texter. Cut out and put square of Magic Mount behind.
- Stamp frame onto white card with clear pigment pad and pour over gold embossing powder. Heat set. Stamp little fish inside frame in black and colour in both. Sponge with sepia ink. Cut out frame and adhere to slightly larger piece of gold foilboard. Attach short strip of green ribbon behind and secure with Magic Mount. Pour Glossy Accents over fish and set aside to dry.
- Assemble card layers, placing embossed card towards left side of blue one. Position mermaid with two-sided tape over 2/3 of embossed card with part of her tail and bath hanging over onto blue card beneath. Place duck and fish frame where desired. Using an awl, pierce small hole at top of card to secure middle of ribbon with olive brad.
- Cut out various sized circles in clear film with punches. These are for the bubbles. Position where desired with Glossy Accents (or some other glue that dries clear). Squirt a little Stardust Stickles over them. Set card aside to dry.
I believe in mermaids, don’t you?
This background was created by spritzing white card with water, then Lemon Zest, Cut Grass and London Blue Dylusion Sprays. I started to stencil a pattern onto it too, but then changed my mind.
The mermaid is an old favourite of mine by Visual Image Printery. I stamped her onto a scrap of white card in black Archival ink, coloured her in with watercolours, then cut her out and glued her in position on card front. I smeared Star Dust Stickles over her fins with a paintbrush to make them shimmer.
I stamped the wording in black next to her and the little school of fish in shades of green underneath using 
a Kaleidocolor pad. Glossy Accents were added to the fish bubbles and continued up the 
card.