Under The Sea

Hi there everybody.  I love Chocolate Baroque stamps and I have often looked at these sea themed stamps which have a steampunk element to them and thought  that I wouldn't really have anyone to send them to, but then the combination price was reduced even further in a sale, and with masculine cards in mind, which I have to send a lot of, and the fact there are seahorses in there too, that finally swung it. The sets are called Steampunk Funky Fish and Steampunk Sea World.

My take on the underwater theme is a little bit alternative too, as a ship wouldn't normally be found under the sea unless it's a wreck, or a submarine, and the sea isn't normally this colour.  Even the Bristol Channel isn't this shade of brown..lol.  The reason for this absurdity is that Chocolate Baroque has a monthly colour challenge which I haven't entered before so decided this time to take the plunge, excuse the pun, and it is also the challenge's second birthday.  The theme is Chocolate and any colours you might associate with eating it, like mint green or toffee colours or possibly orange, or taking the colour theme literally and just using shades of brown.  Well, here is what I came up with.

For the stamping I used Adirondack Espresso, and for the background and watercolouring I used combinations of Walnut Stain, Spiced Marmalade and Mowed Lawn Distress Inks.  I know it looks as though there is some purple but I think the Walnut Stain when well watered down seems to have that slightly purple look.  I wanted the background light in the middle so when swiping the colours on my glass mat I kept the brown to the outside and then used the orange and green towards the middle and spritzed with quite a bit of water before pressing a piece of  card on to the inks and then moving it around a bit until the colours have mixed nicely.  I dried it with my heat gun and then started stamping the images with the Espresso.  I used the tentacles of the squid for some of the foliage, which is something I have seen done on some other cards, and the top bit of the stamp with the seaweed and cogs,  to make a frame for the scene, and then I stamped the ship and the two little seahorses peeping out of the foliage.   I coloured in using the same inks and a waterbrush and decided to blend more of the Walnut Stain round the edges to give it a bit more depth.

I mounted it on to a piece of brown card before adhering it to a cream square base card, and I stamped the sentiment on to a fishtail banner using more cream card, and then added some Walnut Stain round the edges, using a blending tool, just to take the brightness off the cream colour.

I'm really glad I bought these stamps now as I am pleased with the result, and I can see the other stamps will work well too.  Thank you for looking at the blog today.  See you soon.

Pat  x

I am entering the following challenge:

Chocolate Baroque Challenge -  No 25 Chocolate.
Artistic Stamper August Challenge - Anything Goes.
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Lets Go Wild.  (I have a couple of small seahorses on the right)