On the mend and catching up but still taking it easy ... I have a Christening to attend on Sunday and I want to be fit for it :)
I hope you all had a lovely weekend.
The weather here is appalling ... much like the rest of the UK from what I see on the TV news. Those of you down south are enduring floods, again!!! Sigh ... is it ever going to stop?!?!
Perfect weather for ducks and fish so this card seems kind of appropriate.
The theme for this swap tested me ... a lot! I had to search around for fish themed supplies ... I had only a couple of items in my entire crafting arsenal, a shell necklace bought 17 years ago in Cornwall and a Laura Ashley metal stencil bought 19 years ago - I used it back then to add a stencilled border in my bathroom! Here I used it to make an embossed border by passing it through the Cuttlebug, then, with it still in place, stencilled through it with a VersaMark pen and finished by brushing with two shades of blue mica powder.
After a bit of online searching, I finally found the fish stamp set on eBay and the ribbon was a serendipitous find on a visit to the craft centre.
To make the swimming fish topper I followed Barbara Gray's instructions on her DVD, The Art of Transparent Stamping, Part 5 ... I couldn't have done it without her :)
The fish are stamped onto one side of a sheet of double-sided adhesive then covered in clear acetate. On the other side, using a craft knife, firstly, I cut round various parts of the fish and then, in an undulating fashion to represent waves, cut the background. Then it was just a matter of revealing the design bit-by-bit and brushing with mica powders.
The 'porthole' was created by cutting an oval frame of white card and heat embossing it with three coats of Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel (UTEE). Once it cooled the the topper was assembled and glued together.
The seaweed is made from the die-cut branches my crafty friend, Maureen, aka Scrappymo at Scraps of Life, recently sent me all the way from Canada ... they were perfect for the job.
There's a layer of embossed card under the topper - the folder is, I think, meant to represent rings but I thought it looked enough like water bubbles to use it here. The clear dew drops also remind me of water bubbles.
The inside and back are decorated with a die-cut border - another item from the lovely Maureen.
Materials used:
Cardstock: one A4 sheet of white card, folded to create an A5 size card; snippets of smooth white card for embossed layers
Patterned Paper: one sheet of Crate Paper's Shine from the Sweet Branch Collection - both sides used
Embossing: Laura Ashley metal stencil; Cuttlebug folder from the True Love All-In-One set
Topper: half of a Clarity double sided clear adhesive sheet and half of a clear acetate sheet for fish topper; Stazon Jet Black ink pad; Kars 3 Fish stamp set
Mica Powders: Craftynotions Champagne and Light Gold; Perfect Pearls Interference Blue, Forever Blue, Interference Green, Forever Green, Berry Twist, Forever Violet and Forever Red
Frame: cArt-Us Oval die set; Platinum Melt Art UTEE
Embellishments: die-cuts - branches and border from Maureen; shells, clear dew drops from stash, and the Trimcraft's Smirk fish decorated ribbon from my craft centre.
I got to use up a number of snippets here - enough to submit it to the eagle-eyed Di, over at Pixie's Crafty Workshop, for her Snippets Challenge #39.
Whew! If you've stuck with me this far, many thanks :)) You'll be relieved to know that that is me done for now!
I've a fair old backlog of projects lined up but they will just have to wait because I'm off for a nice cup of tea.
Thanks for dropping by - I appreciate your visits.
Happy Crafting,
9 comments:
What a cute card Elizabeth...I'm sure I saw those little fish swimming past our gate this morning....we are one of those areas with floods today but thankfully it didn't reach us.
Hugs,
A x
WOW Elizabeth this is SPECTACULAR! Love everything about it, especially your fabulous porthole scene.
Sorry you are getting to much of the wet stuff, sure wish we could have some of that rain to douse our fires.
Hugs
Bernie
Fantastic Elizabeth. Love everything about it. The porthole and the fish are just superb.
Hi Eliazabeth, This is gorgeous l really love your porthole and that's where my fish have gone......lol xx
What a very inspirational piece of work Elizabeth, it's really lovely.
B x
Beautiful cards since I last stopped by Elizabeth. I have been busy going out and about and generally enjoying the great outdoors until yesterday and all that weather! :o)
Jackie xx
WOW, this is truly gorgeous Elizabeth - I adore it muchly. So realistic too - one of my faves! Hugs, Di XX
Absolutely SUPER.
If you can make it over to the swings without being told off by the EM, Mrs A has doughnuts xxx
Hugs
Sarn xxx
Super card, and I read through all the work you did to make it so gorgeous and realistic. I've worked with the Ritz glitter (which may be your Mica?), and the transparent stickies, and that takes a lot of patience. Your elements are all so perfect, and the 3coats of UTEE absolutely an inspiration. Folder was great with your theme as was the ribbon! Thanks for such a wonderful card, and your How-tos as well.
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