Hello Stamping Friends! I have so much fun for you today! I am starting off with some backgrounds made with Distress Oxide inks on the Gel Press. I have to say, this is one of the fastest, easiest and cleanest way to make backgrounds on a Gel Press. Then I am going to take those prints and make some tags and a shaker card using the Honey Bee Seashell Die.
Let's start with the video showing how to make the background and projects using the backgrounds with the Honey Bee Seashell Die set.
The sand I used inside of this shaker is sand I found at the Target Dollar Spot. It was part of a selections of products intended for making fairy houses. When I saw it I thought of my Seashell Card die set by Honey Bee and knew I needed to make a shaker card. Then I saw this sand again in a bigger container at Micheals, also for creating fairy structures. So, if you too are wanting to make a shaker card with sand in it, I feel you can easily find this sand either at Target or a craft store. It is not messy as far as sand goes, all the granules are about the same size, perfect for a shaker card really.
Now let's have a chat about coloring. It recently occurred to me that not everyone wants to sit and colors images in for hours. Sometimes you want to color an image in quickly. Or maybe coloring is not your favorite thing. Maybe you don't have a knack for it. After a recent request by a couple customers at my last stamping class for "quick" coloring I decided to look into this further and come up with a solution.
My solution is watercolor pencils and a blending pen. You can color in an image fairly messy with a watercolor pencil and blend it out with either water or a blending pen. I opted for a blending pen because you need to have a little more practice and control with water. So, for the mermaid in this card I used the Arteza Expert Watercolor Pencils, a set of 72. I want to provide my customers with a good pencil at a good price and that is Arteza's specialty. I used two pencils per area and blended them out with a Tombow Bending Pen (N00).
You can see this coloring in action in the video. Maybe this is a good option for you too. Coloring mediums can be very pricey and if you are not "in to it" then a quality but affordable option could be the right fit for you. You can compare the coloring on this mermaid to the one below, which was colored with Copic Markers. It is definitely a different look but you can get good results using and "easier" coloring method such as the Watercolor Pencils and a blending pen.
This card is one made at my recent card class and one of the projects in my February Happy Stamping Box. I am sharing it here so you can see how the Seashell Card die set does make a Seashell shaped card, about 4-1/2" x 4" in size. The background on this card is also made with the same Distress Oxide ink pads, but used to watercolor with, it is not a Gel Press background like the shaker card is.
Now let me show you the insides of these cards, featuring stamps from Impression Obsession.
Of course the Seashell shaped card needed this sentiment, "the world is your Oyster"! Perfect, right. And the pearl that is next to the sentiment is die cut from another of the dies from the Seashell card die set. I used glitter paper for this pearl.
Aren't these great saying for Sea/Mermaid themed cards! They are sold as single stamps and so are a great price!
I have linked all the supplies for the projects created here for you below. Thank you so much for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed the making of these cards as much as I did.
