Mer-penguin in a Bottle

I recently had the luckiest June of my life, which was capped off by being selected the Alex Syberia June Release Blog Hop winner. My prize… The entire Sunkissed Memories collection sent to my door.

Today, I pulled out the adorable and charming Underwater Wonders stamp and die set from the Sunkissed Memories collection and decided to create a mash-up card using the Whale in a Bottle dies from the June Spellbinders Large Die of the Month set.

I first started by die cutting two bottle outline images from Neenah 110lb cardstock for the base, scoring the bottom of the bottleneck of one card base to use for the bridge-fold. I then used two shades of teal blue vellum to make all of the water cuts and the lip of the bottle. For the cork I used both Kraft and Dune colored cardstock from Spellbinders, and for the coral, seaweed and mound of sand, I used white cardstock for later coloring.

*Note – Haven’t heard of colored vellum? Just search for colored vellum on Amazon. You will find it.

Upon completion of my die-cutting, I stamped out the underwater images I wanted to color, selecting the octopus, a fish, kelp, and the most hilarious wild eyed mer-penguin ever to leap from the imaginary sea. Listed below are my Copic color choices for each stamped image as well as the one mound/rock shaped die cut. Distress Oxides were used to ink blend the die cut seaweed pieces and the coral (Mowed Lawn, Twisted Citron, Festive Berries, Saltwater Taffy, Dried Marigold, and Spiced Marmalade.

Mermaid Hair – E08, YR27, and YR24 Mermaid Body – W0, W1, W2, and W5, W7, and W9 Mermaid Tail – Y26, YR31, and RV63, RV55, RV52 and RV17

Octopus – V15, V12, V01, and V000

Fish = YG03, YG01, YG00, and YG0000

Kelp – YG17, and YG25

Sand – E34, E31, and E30

Once everything had been colored it was time for assembly.

I spent some time arranging my pieces and I knew I wanted my penguin peaking up through the water. As such, her submerged tail would have to be bluer than her air-exposed body. So I masked off the top half of my penguin and I lightly brushed on some Simon Says Stamp dye ink in Seafoam to give her an underwater look. I then took a BV32 marker and outlined my remaining stamped die cuts so they would better blend in with their watery background. I will often use Copics to color my white edges when I am creating card scenes to better blend stamped die cuts.

I finally got everything glued everything down with only a few glue mishaps (you can’t hide when using vellum), and I was ready for my sentiment. I stamped and die cut the message, “Find me under the sun,” from the Sunkissed Memories stamp and die set, also from Alex Syberia.

I hope you like my card… I trapped a mer-penguin in a bottle!!!