Hi! It's Lynnea Hollendonner! I fell in love with the Chubby Mermaid stamp set from Kindred Stamps the minute I saw it! I've always wanted to be a mermaid...but I'm a bit - ahem - chubby. Haha! Her little rolls are so cute and I just love her extra chub! And the sentiments make me giggle! Make sure you grab yours quick! This set is marked down as a last chance item!
I strongly encourage you to watch the video at the end of this blog post. I tried out a new to me stencil technique and I share some tips and tricks in the video that may help you! I knew I wanted to pair the Chubby Mermaid stamp set with the Skinny Plaid stencil, so I grabbed both of those and got started on my cards!
I started with this black background, and you can definitely tell it was my first time with this technique! I used Black Soot Distress Oxide ink on a piece of watercolor cardstock and made sure I completely saturated the cardstock with ink. I dried it with my heat tool until the ink was completely dry. I grabbed a box that I had laying around and placed the Skinny Plaid stencil in the box and misted it 4 or 5 times with water until it was wet everywhere. Then I laid the inked piece on top and put some acrylic blocks on top to make sure the paper made contact with the stencil. I let this sit for a while and then removed the blocks and the cardstock. I used my heat tool to dry the water and I'm left with a bleaching effect where the water made contact with the cardstock. I love how it makes this background look black and gray!
I wasn't completely happy with my black background, so I repeated the process with some Mermaid Lagoon Distress Oxide ink. This time it turned out even worse! So I did something crazy! I re-wet my stencil and did my best to line it up over my cardstock again and used a paper towel to really press the stencil into my cardstock. This technique worked MUCH better!
I stamped the mermaid from the Chubby Mermaid stamp set with some Copic marker safe ink. I colored in my images in a simple manner - dark to medium to light or even dark to light when I only used two shades of marker. Here's a quick shot at the markers I used for my coloring!
I stamped the sentiment in the center of my card using Versamark ink and heat embossed with white powder. I love how the sentiment pops!
Since these are mermaid cards I thought they needed a bit more shimmer, so I sprayed my backgrounds with some shimmer spray using a spare cardboard box to protect my work surface. I should mention that the spray warns to use this product outside. I took the risk and used it right at my craft desk! I added some clear Spectrum Noir sparkle to the mermaid tail and starfish for even more sparkle! Watch the whole process below!
Thanks for stopping by! Don't forget to head over to the Kindred Stamps website to get the products I used in today's video!