Under the Sea

Do you ever have buyers remorse when it comes to stamping supplies? I don't often because I generally procrastinate quite a long time before committing to buy. And honestly I haven't bought many supplies that I regretted buying later on. what I am referring to is more the kind of guilt you develop over buying stamps and then having them sit on a shelf for a very long time without ever seeing ink. The kind I had an abundance of this weekend.

I am lucky enough to have a a great husband who fully supports my creative en devours. So much so he gave me card Blanche this past week to spend whatever I thought was sufficient on SU supplies for my birthday. After placing my order I went to my craft room and started tidying so I could have a clean work surface for when my new treasures arrive.

To my utter dismay I discovered quite  a few stamps sets from my last order, about 4-5 month ago, that haven't been touched. So in order to rectify this situation I have challenged myself to use each and every one of these sets before I can touch my birthday order.

This lovely under water card and matching envelope is the first creation of this self-challenge.

I started by creating the water background using plain white cardstock. I gathered 5 ink pads in teal and turquoise shades. Using my largest clear stamping block as my canvas I randomly stamped each color directly onto the block and then gave it a little spritz with a little water mister. I randomly stamped onto my white cardstock until no ink remained on the block. The areas not fully filled in where finished by sponging with a little of the two lightest ink colours.

I repeated this on a second piece of cardstock to create my envelop liner and also masked a 1" wide strip on the flap of my envelop to create a matching border.

Next I stamped the jelly fish image (upside down to mimick plant life) several times using Veramark and white embossing powder. I then added the coral image once for a bit of texture. The turtles were stamped three times onto a scrap piece of white card and coloured using Copic alcohol markers. All three turtles were fussy cut. Two turtles were shaped a little from the back using a stylus and then attached to the card front with foam tape. I cut 2 trees with the die from coral coloured card and trimmed them to fit into the comers of the card front, reserving the scraps. Note for added dimension the coral was attached by trimming foam tape into very thin strips

Using the same technique as for the background I coloured another piece of cardstock 5.25"x4" in size , masking the center area (approx. 4.5" x 3") to keep it white for a personal greeting. I then attached the third turtle and left over scrap of coral and stamped the birthday greeting in black.

Lastly I trimmed the second piece of cardstock I had coloured to create the card liner and glue it into the envelope.

Supplies used:
Cardstock: Recollections white, Bazzill coral
Stamps: From Land to Sea, By the Tide, Remembering Your Birthday - all SU
Ink: Tuxedo black - Memento, Coastal Cabana, Bermuda Bay, Lost Lagoon, Island indigo,
       Tempting turquoise (all for the for background), Calypso Coral - SU, Versamark
Alcohol markers: Old olive, light and medium - SU Blendabilities,
                             YG25, Y21, Y32, Y35, YR24, 100 - Copic
Die: Beautiful Branches Thinlits - SU
Misc.: white embossing power, foam mounting tape, water spritzer, sponges

Thanks for stopping by! Hope to see you again soon.