She Sells Sea Shells ... and cards

Unity Stamp Company just released this stunning background stamp called "She Sells Sea Shells." Can you say "love at first sight?" I loved the idea of beach themed colors and keeping the image somewhat uniform. Here was my first take with this stamp.

I found a color pallet on Instagram that inspired the coloring. Instagram is a great source for inspiration, whether it's a card layout or a color scheme, there are lots of amazing artist and images that can inspire your next card. Here' show this color scheme inspired this mer-mazing card.

I started with a pale peach and colored the same shaped shell all around the boarder. Next I used a light teal on the starfishes and highlighted the centers with a slightly darker teal. Next, I colored the really small shells in a dark teal. For the longer shells, I colored those in a medium and dark teal. For the sand dollars, I used a beige. Although this color was not in the pallet, it still was close enough to the peach color family. For the round shells, I brought back that light teal and did some highlights with a medium teal. Lastly, I filled in the space between the shells with a very soft beige to give the idea of sand and to soften the starkness of the white card stock.

Here's the list of colors I used for the background:

- Photo 1: YR82 + E01 + YR000 (pale peach)

- Photo 2: B00 + B000 + B0000 (pale blue

- Photo 3 & 4: BG15 + BG13 + BG11 (Teal)

- Photo 4: R20 + E93 + E11 (rose peach)

- Photo 5: W4 + W3 + W1 + W00

Once this beachy background was complete, I colored the amazingly stunning mermaid of Unity's "She Mermaid" stamp set. Using the same colors, I colored her. Adding browns in for her hair and stickles to add bling, she is just spectacular!

Here's the list of colors I used for the mermaid:

Tail: BG49 + BG15 + BG13

Tail Highlights: R20 + E93 + E11

Hair: E59 + E57

Skin: E11 + E00

Now when I first laid the mermaid down over the background, it was visually overwhelming. So I added a slightly smaller piece of vellum over the background and then added the mermaid. The vellum subdued the boldness of the colors on the background. I stamped the sentiment on the vellum and heat embossed it. In order to glue the vellum down without showing any glue, I glued the mermaid to the vellum first and then put glue under the vellum where the mermaid would cover it and adhered it to the background.

For final touches, I trimmed the background and added it to another layer of teal paper and added that to a white card base. This card was made for my dear coworker for her birthday. She is mer-mazing and just needed to know it for her birthday!

I hope you enjoyed this post and find some inspiration for your next mer-mazing card. If you aren't subscribed already, please CLICK HERE to subscribe to my blog as I try to share some of my favorite cards and techniques with you all.

Until next time... happy crafting!

Products used in this blog are listed below:

Stamps:

- Unity Stamp Company - She Mermaid

- Unity Stamp Company - She Sells Seashells

Ink:

- Copic Markers

- Stickles

- Black Versafine Ink w/ Clear Embossing Powder (sentiment only)

Paper:

- Bristol Smooth Paper

- Vellum

- Teal Recollections Card Stock

- White Card Base