Stampin’ Up! Magical Mermaid

Hey everyone! I have been very busy trying to get my craft space re-organized so it is easier to work. It seems to take forever, but I am making headway. At least on Sunday afternoon I got all the scrap card stock and DSP sorted and put in the proper file. Whew! I didn’t know I had so many scraps.  Some might say I am a pack rat. That isn’t true, but I do try to save where I can and believe in using odd bits when possible.

Today’s card is for my Great Granddaughter who will turn 4 on Friday. She told me recently that she wants to be a mermaid for Halloween. I managed to find an idea to make her a costume, so that will be her birthday present. I made this card to go with it.

The card base is Very Vanilla. I began by taking another panel of Very Vanilla and die cutting the fancy oval from it. My intent was to adhere the DSP on the back and put the die cut back in the space, leaving the center open. But first, I wanted the mermaid to be IN the water, so I sponged the upper portion in Soft Sky, which, on Very Vanilla, turned sort of green. Not good.

I decided the sand should be done next, so I inked up the sand stamp from Magical Mermaid in soft Suede and stamped until the lower area was covered. Who ever heard of vanilla sand? I sponged over the stamping with Sahara Sand until I thought it looked more like real sand at the bottom of the ocean, blending it into the ‘water’ above.

To correct the greenish tint I sponged over the Soft Sky with Marina Mist, rendering a bluer water with some green undertones. Using Liquid Glue I adhered a piece of the wavy water from the retired By the Shore DSP to the back of my panel. So far, so good.

Then, when I re-inserted the die cut into the oval, it was all wrong. I didn’t want to sponge it, so I cut another oval from Soft Sky and used that die cut to put back into my panel. Oohh! I like this. That die, as well as the fish dies and the mermaid on the inside are from a stamp/die set from Simply Defined and is called Time and Tides. The die cut seaweeds are also from that bundle.

I spent the next hour or so die cutting, all the pieces I would need for my vision, which included ruining a couple of pieces and having to cut them again. The gluing was a bit tedious, but not too much of a chore.

The seaweed is cut all in one piece as the die is really a frame, then I simply cut it apart to make more of an ocean bottom look. All the seaweed, inside and out, is from Old Olive. I dry arranged everything before starting to adhere elements in place.

I stamped the mermaid from Magical Mermaid in Smokey Slate ink onto Whisper White card stock, made sure it was dry, then proceeded to color her with my new Stampin’ Blends. These are Stampin’ Up!s new alcohol markers and they really blend well. They were available to demonstrators on October 1, but I do not know when they will be available for customers. As soon as I get the word I will let you know.

I used Calypso Coral, Pink Pirouette, Pool Party, Ivory and Crumb Cake to color the mermaid. Each color comes in a dark and a light, which makes blending very easy. There is also a color lifter which can be used to take away any color where you get too much. The mermaid costume has pink, coral, cream and about 3 shades of blue, so I tried to replicate that look on this card. I will say here that I thought about adding some pearls or enamel dots, but she has a 1 year old brother and I figured if they came off it might be a choking hazard, so I left them off.

Her hair is Crumb Cake, body is Ivory, and the other colors are in the tail. Her hair band is Calypso Coral, the dark one. Since there is no die for her, I fussy cut the pretty girl fish, or is it fish girl?

I die cut 2 fish in Calypso Coral, one in Marina Mist and one from a previously stamped scrap of Daffodil Delight. I thought it made a nice tiger fish. (See, all those scraps come in handy sometimes!)

The seaweed at left is adhered with Stampin’ Dimensionals cut to fit the small spaces. Mini Stampin’ Dimensionals were too big and more difficult to cut smaller. The piece at right is two pieces cut and layered, gluing them together, which was almost as much of a chore as cutting bitty pieces of Dimensionals. Both the one at right and the one next to it were liquid glued to the card front. I left a gap about halfway up that was not glued down so I could have a fish swimming through the seaweed.

Before adhering the next pieces I attached the Mermaid with Stampin’ Dimensionals so she could appear to be rising from the seaweeds. There was a blank space and I was DONE with the bitty, fragile pieces of seaweed, so I stamped the weeds from Magical Mermaid onto Old Olive with Old Olive ink and fussy cut it. This was adhered with Stampin’ Dimensionals also, with the edge tucked behind the Mermaid’s tail.

The blue fish and striped fish were also attached with Dimensionals in the seaweed at left. The smaller coral fish was also adhered with Dimensionals.

To finish the card front, I stamped some air bubbles from the Seaside Shore stamp set, and the sentiment from Magical Mermaid in Marina Mist.

I LOVE the dimension and textures of this card. I am equally certain the little girl in question will love it too.

On the inside, I cut the By the Shore wavy paper one inch too short, intentionally, and liquid glued it to a Soft Sky mat, keeping it at the top. At the bottom I added a one inch strip of Very Vanilla that I had stamped with the sand image in Soft Suede and sponged over it with Sahara Sand.

Over this I stamped a couple of seaweed images from the Magical Mermaid set in Old Olive and the sentiment from the same stamp set in Marina Mist.

Using the Mermaid from the Time and Tides collection from Simply Defined, I stamped her in Smokey slate and used my new Stampin’ Blends to color her the same as the one on the front. I don’t mind that the waves show through, as I think it lends a more ethereal look to the Mermaid. To complete the inside of the card, I die cut 3 small seaweeds and a Conch shell (stamped with Calypso Coral on Very Vanilla first) from the Time and Tides collection. The weed at left is adhered with Stampin’ Dimensional bits and the rest with liquid glue.

The envelope flap got more of the By the Shore DSP while the front was stamped with Old Olive seaweed and a Soft Sky mermaid, all from the Magical Mermaid set.

I hope you like this card as much as I do! Card cuts and products used are below.

If you do not have a demonstrator and would like to order from me, please click on the Shop Online button at right.

October 16-31 HOST CODE: 3HM7FW4Q

If you apply that Host Code to your online orders under $150, you’ll get a free gift from me. If your order is over $150, please don’t apply the hostess code (you’ll miss out on your own Stampin’ Rewards/Host $$ if you use it), but you’ll still get the free gift, too!

Wild Wing Creations Bird Egg Rewards:

Qualify to earn FREE Stampin’ Up! product from ANY current Stampin’ Up! catalog or promotion!  The Wild Wing Creations Bird Eggs Rewards Program is my way of personally saying “thank you” to my returning customers. For details on the rewards, click here.

The Designer Paper Series ‘Buy Three, Get One Free’ promotion is good until October 31. All purchases for this deal must be from the list below. You can order as many as you like. You get to choose which ones from the list that you want, so if you want 3 at the $10 price and the free one is $13, you can do that!The T

The Merry Patterns Host promotion also ends October 31. To get this lovely stamp set FREE, just have sales of $300. You can order this yourself, or get some friends together and place your order. This is a great set, very versatile.

CARD CUTS: Very Vanilla: card base 7″ x 10″ scored at 5″; card front 4-7/8″ x 6-7/8″, sand strip on inside 1″ x 4-1/2″, conch shell 2″ x 2″; Soft Sky: fancy oval die cut 4-1/2″ x 6″, inside mat 4-7/8″ x 6-7/8″; Whisper White: mermaid 2-1/2″ x 6″; Old Olive: seaweed 5″ x 6″; By the Shore DSP: front 4-1/2″ x 6-1/2″, inside liner 4-1/2″ x 5-1/2″; Calypso Coral, Marina Mist, Daffodil Delight: fish 1-1/2″ x 2″

NON STAMPIN’ UP! products used: Simply Defined Time and tides stamp and die collection

Product List