This morning’s crafting session did not go as I had envisioned.  I had planned to explore some colour combinations that I’ve been seeing a lot of lately, bluey-greens and purples, and bright greens and blues.  It started out OK but somewhere along the way I ended up with a background that reminded me of the sea and that turned into a masculine birthday card.  Not that it’s a bad thing, masculine cards are always good, it just wasn’t what I thought I’d be making this morning.

This card all came about because of that background.  It started out as a piece of Whisper White Card and using some Stampin’ Sponge I sponged over a layer of Coastal Cabana ink.  Then I added some areas of Bermuda Bay ink and finally some Tranquil Tide ink around the edges.

To give the background some added interest I took a Stampin’ Spritzer full of clean water and sprayed it straight up into the air, then I quickly brought my sponged piece underneath the falling drops.  I haven’t tried this rather bizarre technique before but I have to say I love the result, lots of teeny tiny specks of lighter colour on the sponged piece rather that some small and some larger ones.  I put the sponged background aside to dry and pulled out the Sea of Textures Stamp Set.

I wiped a piece of Balmy Blue Card with an Embossing Buddy to remove any oils and static and then used VersaMark Ink to stamp the octopus image.  I sprinkled the VersaMark with Gold Stampin’ Emboss Powder and tapped off the excess.  Then I removed some stray specks of embossing powder before melting the rest with my Heat Tool set on 2 (high).

Now it was time to get out my Big Shot and Magnetic Platform so I could cut out some pieces using the Under the Sea Framelits.  I die cut the embossed octopus using the coordinating die and then using other dies in the set I cut out a net from Soft Sea Foam Card, a small coral piece from Mango Melody Card and a small sand dollar from Crumb Cake Card.

Before I could assemble the card I wanted to add some ink to some of the die-cut pieces.  I sponged the edge of the sand dollar with Crumb Cake ink and then added a little ink to  the surface using the sponge in a tapping motion.  The same tapping motion was used to add Coastal Cabana ink to the blue areas of the die-cut octopus.

I wanted the net to have more texture so screwed it up into a ball then flattened it out before tapping some Coastal Cabana, Bermuda Bay and Tranquil Tide ink randomly over the surface with some Stampin’ Sponge.

The last element was my ‘happy birthday’ sentiment from the Happy Birthday Gorgeous Stamp Set, stamped onto some Whisper White Card with Bermuda Bay ink.  Using the Pretty Label Punch I punched out the sentiment and then added a very light touch of Coastal Cabana ink around the edge with some Stampin’ Sponge.

Finally I was ready to assemble the card.

Using my Stampin’ Trimmer I cut and scored a piece of Thick Whisper White Card, folded it along the scored line and sharpened the crease with a Bone Folder to create the card base.  The sponged background layer was then fixed to the front with Multipurpose Liquid Glue (Tombow).

Using Stampin’ Dimensionals loops of Linen Thread were added to the bottom of the background layer, followed by the net piece.  That was topped with the coral die-cut, the sand dollar, and finally the octopus.  With the addition of the sentiment the front of the card was done.

On another layer of Whisper White Card I decided to sponge Coastal Cabana, Bermuda Bay and Tranquil Tide inks across the bottom right corner to match the front of the card.  Then I wiped the card with and Embossing Buddy before stamping and embossing the top of the octopus coming in from the corner.  With that done I fixed the layer to the inside of the card.

To complete the project I simple sponged Coastal Cabana, Bermuda Bay and Tranquil Tide ink over the flap of a Whisper White Medium Envelope.

Phew, lots of sponging here, but I really love the way the project turned out, even if it wasn’t what I initially had in mind.  I also hadn’t realised how beautifully that happy birthday sentiment fits into the Pretty Label Punch, that’s one to remember for the future.

BUNDLE BONUS – The Sea of Textures Stamp Set and coordinating Under the Sea Framelits Dies can be bought separately, or you can do what I did and buy them as a bundle using the special item number to get them at a 10% discount.  All the options are included in the supply list below.

Product List