Take Me to the Ocean card created with stamps from Chocolate Baroque

Good morning. The sun is shining here today so dreaming of rock pools and the fresh sea breeze – summer is on its way.

This one was created by stamping and adding textural embellishments (created by spreading Soft Form Relief Paste over the stamp) onto a patterned background paper. I also added a little ‘step’ and layered up stamped images in the foreground for added depth.

As the theme on the Simon Says Stamp Blog Challenge (Wed) this week is ‘Layer It Up’ – I have entered this one. I have entered lots this week. Unlike me as I rarely get time but the themes just coincided perfectly with projects I have been working on this week so I thought that I would share.

Materials:

• Seaside Dreams, Mermaid Queen, Underwater and Ammonite stamp sets from Chocolate Baroque
• 8 X 8 inch white card blank, 6 X 6 inch patterned paper from Crafty Individuals (The Seaside), strip of white stamping card
• Soft Form Relief Paste (Silver)
• Inkpads: Versafine (Vintage Sepia), Distress Inks (Forest Moss, Peeled Paint, Wild Honey)
• Gouache paint (white)
• Ink Spray (gold with mica)
• Spectrum Noir Sparkle Pen (Clear)
• WOW Embossing Powder (Clear Gloss)
• Texture elements (Frantage)
• Stickles Glitter Glue (Icicle)
• PVA pearls
• Pebeo Gilding Wax (gold)
• Fine tipped marker (black)
• Spectrum Noir Alcohol Marker (dark brown)

How it was done:

1. The front of the 8 X 8 inch card blank was scored at 4 and 2 cm up from the base (sorry that I tend to work in mixed units – depends on what I am doing – tee hee). A 4cm strip was removed from the base of the back. The side of the card was then trimmed away to make square. This created a stepper style card with an approx. 6 X 6 inch panel for the main image.
2. Soft Form Relief Paste was spread onto the Ammonite stamp and left to fully dry. This generally requires overnight or sometimes 2 days (my room has no heating). When dry the flexible paste embellishment was peeled away from the stamp and rough edges trimmed away with scissors. I used a fine tipped pen to add back a bit of detail into the crevices, then rubbed over the top with gold gilding wax.
3. The shell was stamped onto the patterned paper with Versafine ink and heat embossed quickly with clear powder. Thinned gouache was painted over the shell and parts of the background to tone down the printed pattern (gouache is basically an opaque watercolour). I then added some sparkle pen over the shell. Background weeds were stamped with Forest Moss Distress Ink.
4. Peeled Paint Distress Ink was blended around the edges. I also edged with brown alcohol pen to frame before gluing to the card front. The ammonite embellishment was glued with 3D glue gel for depth.
5. The shell border and sentiments were stamped with Versafine and trimmed to fit the front stepper of the card. I used Peeled Paint and Wild Honey Distress Inks and a damp brush to add colouring. I also added a bit of gold mica spritz spray. Brown alcohol pen was used to frame the edges.
6. The sentiment was glued with 3D gel for dimension. The decorative panel was glued to the card stepper. Frantage elements were also added to the base for texture (you could use washed and smashed up egg shells) using PVA glue.
7. Finished with PVA pearls and glitter glue.