Saturday, September 4, 2010

Vintage Mermaid Card


I just purchased Bubblies Lostlagoon-Sweet November (CC Designs)  from All That Scraps.  I have to admit I have been eyeing the Sweet November mermaids for a little while!  I thought she would be perfect for the latest ATS challenge.  This card was a lot of work...but definately worth it!  Some of the techniques I used were a little messy!  Of course in all honesty-my creating style is pretty chaotic.  Somehow even though I begin with a decent sized workspace-as a project continues I find the area I am working in steadily grow smaller and smaller...

I will enter this card into the following challenges:
atsblog.typepad.com/wednesdayschallenge/ -Lace
diecutdreams.blogspot.com-Soft shades of vintage
thecraftypad.blogspot.com -Simply pearls
paperplaychallenges.blogspot.com-In Stitches

I colored Bubbles and her Octopus friend with my Copic Sketch Markers: B00/12/14, R20/22, E55/53/50/17/13/11/00/000, RV91/93/95.  I used a white Marvy gel pen to highlight her eyes and I used my new baby blue spica pen to go over her entire tail, bikini and the pins in her hair.  I have to say-the spica pen was worth the hype.  (Crud-that just means I will have to get more!) I then colored some pearls with my Copics to match and glued them into her hair.  I used my Pebbles Chalks to create a softer edge around the sides of the image, then using a technique borrowed from Annika Clare (anothermessycrafter.blogspot.com) I inked the edges with my distress inks and paper stain, then I rubbed the edges with versamark and embossed it with a mix of UTEE (Ultra Thick Embossing Powder), Perfect Pears (Turquoise and Smoke Blue) and MS Glitter (Turquiose and Lapis Lazuli). At this point the image looked like this:


Not too bad-but I wanted to use this card for the challenge at diecutdreams.blogspot.com which was to use soft shades of vintage.  Soooo...I decided to try a technique that I hadn't done in a while.  Using lots of layers of UTEE and then freezing the paper for a few minutes-you can create a cracked class effect.  It took three layers of UTEE and I probably could have done another layer or two and about 7 or 8 minutes in the freezer.  Much more vintage-don't you think?


I distressed and inked the edges of some Vintage Shabby patterned papers by Tim Holtz, used a Fiskars corner punch on the corners of the music note paper.  I stitched part of a flourish on the top left side of the card and layered cardstock, blue lace ribbon and a string of pearls down the middle.  Then I attached my mermaid image matted with coordinating patterned paper using foam adhesive.  I added three pearls to the top and two flowers with one last pearl.  Cause really can you ever have enough bling?  (My husband certainly thinks so-after I added the flowers and pearl he told me that I should stop before it became too busy.  Expert that he is-I decide to follow his advice!)

7 comments:

  1. Very sweet card and great layout. :)

    Thanks for joining us this week.
    xxDebbiexx

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  2. how adorable your mermaid card is! I like your use of pearls.

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  3. Very pretty card, thank you for joining us at DCD this week.

    Pamela x

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  4. So pretty! Thanks for playing at Paper Play this week. :)

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  5. Beautiful card! I love your design and colouring! The cracked glass effect looks brilliant! Thanks for joining us on PaperPlay this week!

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  6. Great card - Thanks so much for joining us on Paperplay this week. ♥

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  7. This is such a darling card! You really should consider entering your creations over at the Papercraft Star challenge blog, the challenges are posted way in advance so you have plenty of time to enter and you can win prizes too! http://www.papercraftstar.blogspot.com

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