Mermaid Flow and Happy Birthday Shelagh

Sandi MacIver Papercraft Artist – Mermaid Flow and Happy Birthday to Shelagh

Hi stamping friends, today’s share is Mermaid Flow and Happy Birthday to Shelagh.  I share some tips on how I add shadows and highlights easily, the list of colours I used on this card so you can duplicate it and a FREE PDF Download with supply list, cutting instructions and bullet points on the completion of the card.

Shelagh is my BFF and a fellow water sign, so when I saw this Mermaid Flow stamp while cruising the “What’s New” section on the Simon Says Stamp Blog, I had to have it. Then it was time to drag out my much loved – and not used in a VERY long time Prismacolor pencils.….Oh how I love thee.  Nothing makes me happier than colouring.

The image is small so it didn’t take too long to colour, so I did one for myself too.  Do you do that?  I love having cards I’ve made in my studio, it gives me inspiration for more card ideas.

Tips & Tricks for the Mermaid Flow Birthday Card:

This is a Laurel Burch design and the stamps are presented by Stampendous.  There are also Cats, flowers, dogs and hummingbirds. I love bright fun happy colours, so these stamps just really speak to me.  You can find them all on the Simon Says Stamp site here.

• I take a simple approach to watercolor pencils, a dark and a light for each colour.
• I stamped the image in VersaFine Onyx Black ink onto a piece of Strathmore Bristol Smooth cardstock.
•  I fill with the light, add the darker colour for my shadows and go back and blend with my light.
• I also have a few white pencils which I like to use for highlighting.
• Look closely in these cards, I actually used the light green to go back into my “water” and add some light”.
• Laurel Burch is known for her bright vivid colours, so I followed suite when I chose mine, playing with bright colours just makes me happy, LOL.
• Also, you want to audition your backgrounds for your card.  Notice the card below with the blue background, is on the darker side, because the background is dark, scroll down a bit to the other card with the green background, it appears brighter, because it draws your eye to the lighter colours.  More details about the backgrounds below.
• When I colour I stamp a bunch of images, place them on a clipboard and then sit and colour – usually while watching t.v.  I find this super relaxing, AND, the next time I need a card in a hurry, I can pull out my UFO drawer (un-finished objects), grab an already coloured image and quickly finish a card.

My #1 TIP for colouring with these pencils.

I popped the Bristol cardstock into the bottom left corner of my Misti to stamp the image.  I left the stamp in the misti, did my colouring, then placed the piece back in again, inked the stamp in black ink  again, and restamped.  It refreshed my black outlines and really made the art piece pop. – TRY THIS – you won’t believe the difference it makes.

The colouring is the same on both cards, I used:

• True blue, Aquamarine, light Aqua, Peacock Blue, Denim Blue (blues)
• Crimson Lake, scarlet lake, process red, hot pink and orange (reds)
• Nector, Blush Pink (skin)
• Olive Green, apple green, spring, chartreuse (greens)
• Canary Yellow, Lemon Yellow (yellows)

For the background on the card above, I sponged Gina K Blue Denim ink  through the Simon Says Stamps Waves Stencil onto a piece of Simon Says Audrey Blue cardstock before mounting it to a Gina K Lucky Clover Base.

The art piece is stamped in VersaFine Onyx Black into a piece of Strathmore Bristol smooth cardstock, the edges are torn before mounting to a piece of black and then the Lucky Clover Green

For the background on the second card above, I sponged  Gina K Turquoise Sea Ink through the Brutus Monroe Tangled Waves Stencil onto a piece of Gina K Lucky Clover

click the button below to download a FREE PDF file for today’s card – and don’t forget to check out my PDF Gallery for other fun cards to download

 

Thanks so much for visiting me today and I hope you enjoyed the project and Shelagh – Happy Birthday Girlfriend!   I have listed the supplies below:

 

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I’ve listed the products I used below.  Clicking on the image will take you directly to the product.  Where available I use compensated affiliate links which means if you make a purchase through my link, I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.  Thank you so very much for your support, it helps to keep my blog and YouTube channel running and I truly appreciate it.

for the Mermaid Flow – Happy Birthday Shelagh Card:

Stampendous Cling Stamp MERMAID FLOW… [ SSS ] Prismacolor PREMIER COLORED PENCILS… [ SSS ] Prismacolor HIGHLIGHTING & SHADING… [ SSS ] Prismacolor 150 PREMIER COLORED… [ SSS | ELH ] Prismacolor PENCIL SHARPENER Pencils… [ SSS ] Simon Says Stamp Stencil WAVES… [ SSS ] Brutus Monroe MERMAID LAGOON TANGLED… [ SSS ] Tsukineko VersaFine ONYX BLACK Ink… [ SSS | ELH ] Gina K Designs TURQUOISE SEA PREMIUM… [ SSS ] Gina K Designs LUCKY CLOVER Premium… [ SSS ] Gina K Designs BLUE DENIM PREMIUM DYE… [ SSS ] Strathmore BRISTOL SMOOTH 9 x 12… [ SSS | ELH ] Gina K Designs 2018 ADD-ON COLLECTION… [ SSS | ELH ] Simon Says Stamp Card Stock 100#… [ SSS ] Simon Says Stamp Card Stock 100#… [ SSS ] Scor-Tape 1/4 Inch Crafting Tape [ SSS ] Simon Says Stamp BIG MOMMA FOAM TAPE… [ SSS ] MISTI PRECISION STAMPER Stamping Tool… [ SSS ] MISTI SUPER MAGNETS Disc mistism [ SSS ] MISTI NEODYMIUM MAGNETS 4 Pack Discs… [ SSS ] Novus PLASTIC CLEAN AND SHINE 1 MISTI… [ SSS ] Tsukineko 6 SPONGE DAUBERS Tools… [ SSS ] Tsukineko 25 SPONGE DAUBERS Tools… [ SSS | ELH ] Tsukineko STORAGE BOX Sponge Daubers… [ SSS ]