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I hope you have enjoyed the last couple of months of this year’s Christmas and holiday creations and maybe picked up some tips and ideas along the way. I will be switching gears now and making mostly all occasion cards with maybe a Christmas card or two thrown in… I cannot believe how fast time is going! Today I have a fun card using a couple of picture book dies from Simon Says Stamp, these dies are so adorable and fun to create with! I wanted to make a sea themed card with these dies so I brought in my waves stencil along with some glitter gel to add some fun sparkle. I also used a sunshine embossing folder to create some interest to the background. I used regular distress ink for my stenciling and shading of the die cut pieces. All of the stamps, dies and inks can be found at Simon Says Stamp, colored cardstock is from Gina K. Designs. Let’s get started!!
I will be doing all of my work today on my Tim Holtz Glass Media Mat.
To start I place a 4 1/4″ x 5 1/2″ piece of White Cardstock into my Make Art Stay-tion and place my Waves Stencil over the top, holding everything into place with the magnets. I then take my Mini lending Brush and blend Tumbled Glass Distress Ink over the top portion of the stencil onto my panel. Next, I blend Salty Ocean Distress Ink just below and blending back into the previous color. I then blend Blue Print Sketch Distress Ink, blending back into the previous color followed by Villainous Potion Distress Ink, again blending back into the previous color. *The stencil has some very intricate pieces, to help hold the stencil down, Pixie Spray could have also been used.
Now that my blending is complete, I use my Palette Knife to add some Iridescent Glitz Glitter Gel to the edge of my ink blending then spread it evenly across the ink blended panel. I carefully remove the stencil and immediately wash off the stencil and palette knife with warm soapy water. I set the panel aside to completely dry and move on to the rest of my card components.
Next, I take my Seahorse Picture Book Die and cut out of Ocean Mist Cardstock, Lemon Drop Cardstock and Lovely Lavender Cardstock, running them through my Big Shot Die Cut Machine. *There are three separate pieces to this die so you are able to cut each piece from a different color of cardstock.
I want to add some shading to my die cut pieces, to make it easier I place the die cuts back into the pieces they were cut from. I then use my Mini Blending Brushes to blend Salvaged Patina Distress Ink onto the blue cardstock, Milled Lavender Distress Ink onto the lavender cardstock and Mustard Seed Distress Ink onto the yellow cardstock. I didn’t go crazy with the shading, just enough to add some shadows.
I add Liquid Glue to the back of the seahorse spikes and adhere the seahorse over the purple die cut. To make the yellow fin stand out a bit more I add a small Foam Square to the back of it and also add a drop of Liquid Glue to the tip of the fin where it joins the body then adhere it to the seahorse.
Next, I take the Jumping Narwhal Picture Book Die and cut out of Lovely Lavender Cardstock, Ocean Mist Cardstock and Lemon Drop Cardstock, running them through my Big Shot. I repeat the coloring process using my Mini Blending Brushes as I did with the previous die cuts using the same colors. For the tiny eyes in both die cut critters, I place a piece of tape on the backside over the eye holes then add a tiny drop of Liquid Glue into the openings. I then run the dies with a small strip of Black Cardstock over the eye areas through my Big Shot. After running through my die cut machine, the black eye die cuts are still in the die, I place the die over the glue dots and poke them out from the die with my Craft Pick. They eyes fall over the glue dots and I gently press them into place. To add some shine to the eyes I add a small drop of Glossy Accents to each eye and allow them to dry. *It’s card to see from the photo but the eyes are very shiny and stand out much more. For the center of the whale’s belly I place a piece of tape over the backside opening then glue the die cut into place, I also glue the tusk die cut onto the head of the whale using Liquid Glue for both.
Now that my glitter gel panel is completely dry, I take a die from my Infinity Circle Die Set and cut out of the panel, running them through my Big Shot. For my card front I take the second largest rectangle die from the Master Layouts 1 Die Set and cut out of White Cardstock, running them through my Big Shot. Next, I place the panel into my MISTI Stamp Positioner and temporarily place the circle die cut over the panel to figure out my stamp placement. I then choose a greeting from the Mermazing Stamp Set and center it under the circle die cut. I remove the circle die cut then stamp the greeting onto my panel using Versafine Clair Nocturn Ink. I use my Heat Tool to heat set the ink as this ink stays a little wet longer.
To add some texture and interest to this panel I place it into my Sunburst Embossing Folder and run them through my Big Shot. Next, I take the largest rectangle die from the Master Layouts 1 Die Set and cut out of Turquoise Sea Cardstock, running them through my Big Shot. I then mounted the two panels together using Double Sided Adhesive Tape.
Next, I place a 5 1/2″ x 8 1/2″ piece of White Cardstock into my Scor Buddy and score it at 4 1/4″ creating a side folding card base. Using Double Sided Adhesive Tape I mount the panel onto my card base.
I now start adhering the elements to the card base. My circle die cut piece is a bit warped from the gel drying, to fix that I took the next smaller circle die from the Infinity Circle Dies Set and cut out of White Cardstock, running them through my Big Shot. Using Liquid Glue I stack and glue the die cuts together then glue them to the back of my stenciled circle and mount onto my card front.
To give my critters some stability I take the Seahorse Picture Book Die and Jumping Narwhal Die and cut two times out of White Cardstock, running them through my Big Shot. I then stack and glue them together then glue them to the back of the critters using Liquid Glue. To add some highlight details I use my White Gel Pen and add some lines and dots to the critters. To finish I add Liquid Glue to the back of the die cuts and adhere them over the circle die cut. *Because the glitter gel is so textured I place a couple of acrylic blocks on top of the die cuts to help adhere them until the glue dries.
Using my Jewel Picker I add some Clear Round Drops with Liquid Glue and this completes my card.
I hope you enjoyed today’s card. While I loved creating all of my Christmas cards, it was a nice change to switch things up. These little critter dies are so darn cute and were fun creating! I think these critters would be fun to use with an “under the sea” type of theme for a birthday or baby shower and would also be great for scrapbooking. Also available in the ocean series is an octopus, turtle, crab and fish which are equally adorable! As most of you know, I love using the clear water drops for embellishment on most of my cards as they are subtle and go with any look. On today’s card they really look like bubbles which are perfect for the underwater scene!
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Happy Stamping and God Bless!!
Jeannie
Kampa Kreations 