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Monday, 2 June 2025

Hello, Pinky Inky

Hi everyone.  This is a card for for our son Stewart in Australia and I have to allow about three weeks to be sure that it arrives in time, which it did...haven't always been lucky though.  This is a fun octopus by Pink Ink Designs and the way I have designed the card it looks as though it's emerging into the light curious to see what's going on.  A bit fanciful but they are very curious and apparently as cephalopods go quite intelligent...lol.  I have also used a set of circles from Creative Craft Products which I am using for the first time.  I got the idea of the circle apertures and bits of the creature emerging through them from this YouTube video by Deb Hallet which you will find here.  She does come up with some great ideas and I have used this octopus instead...I do love that toad though.


I started by stamping the octopus using Versafine Clair Nocturne Ink and then heat embossed it with WOW Clear Gloss Embossing Powder and cut it out.  I coloured it using my Distress Inks and a waterbrush using Fossilized Amber, Carved Pumpkin, Abandoned Coral, Brushed Corduroy and Pine Needles, and used a white Posca Pen to highlight the suckers and the white of the eye.  I then moved on to the background using a piece of white card just a little smaller than the 7" x 5" card, and my Brushos in Sea Green, Ost. Blue and Turquoise and then cut out the three apertures with a set of circle dies by Creative Craft Products which I am using for the first time, using a larger one for the centre aperture and one a size smaller for the other two.  I decided on the position of the octopus and then stuck it to the background adding the circles behind over which I decided to ink blend some Chipped Sapphire and Faded Jeans DI to make it look as it if it is appearing from a darker space, and then finished by adding the sentiment using Versafine Majestic Blue Ink.

Thank you for visiting my blog today and I'll see you again soon. 






I am entering the following challenges:

We Love Stamping Challenge - June '25 Nature/Anything Goes.
Stamping Sensations Challenge - June '25 Our Furry Friends/Anything Goes.
Allsorts Challenge - No. 824 Happy 16th Birthday/Anything Goes.
The Male Room Challenge - No. 198 Under the Sea.
Cut it Up Challenge - No. 331 Anything Goes.
NBUS Challenge - No. 75 Where we use our Never Before Used Schtuff.
Darnells I.D.E.A.S. - Week 1 Ink/Colour Mediums.




18 comments:

Aquarius said...

Wow, this is amazing and the octopus looks so real writhing in and out of the circles - very clever of you to get this effect. Thanks for joining in with this card for the Allsorts 16th Birthday celebrations.

Marjolijn van Elsberg said...

It looks almost real, Beautiful card!

Gail L said...

Fun card, and so creative!
Thank you for joining the celebration at Allsorts!

Christine said...

Wow, beautiful colours on your octopus and so clever having him peek out through the holes. I love the card xx

Sarn said...

That’s really creative of you Pat. Great result as the octopus really looks like he’s writing in and out of the circles.

Thanks for joining in with the 16th birthday celebrations at Allsorts. X

brenda said...

A very effective way to use the Octopus, I'm not a fan of them on the plate but also read they are intelligent creatures.

Lovely to see you at Stamping Sensations and We Love Stamping June challenges and also Allsorts Birthday celebrations, many thanks for joining in at all.

B x

pinky said...

I love this! Gorgeous colours and layout! Thanks for playing along with us at Stamping Sensations.
Pinky

Liz said...

Brilliant card, Pat. I love how the different parts of the octopus’s body peeps through circles. Thank you for joining in the Allsorts 16th birthday celebrations.
Liz xx

Marjan said...

Wow, Pat!! This card is so wonderful with the Octopus sticking his arms through the circles. I love it! I have a fondness for them since I saw a beautiful documentary on Netflix. It's called My Octopus teacher, if you have Netflix...I recommend it!

Heather said...

Oh, wow!! This is fabulous!!! Your octo is amazing and I love the look of him intertwined with the different circles! Love it! Thanks for playing with Cut It Up Challenge.

Cathy said...

Thank you for joining The Male Room blog challenge. What an awesome sea card.

EmmaT said...

Fantastic fun card, very effective. Thank you for joining us at We Love Stamping this month

Linby said...

Such an effective design, he looks fab weaving in and out of the circles. Thanks for sharing with us at Stamping Sensations.

Darnell said...

You have a great understanding of light and shading, Pat! I love how you added those details to your incredible coloring of the octo and the circles and, of course, I love that you used my favorite colors for your Brusho sea! Thank you for inspiring everyone to use their NBUS and for using this week's I.D.E.A.S. Calendar and linking up to motivate others!📌 Hugs, Darnell

Julia Aston said...

What a wonderful design Pat! Love the octopus weaving in and out of the circles! Beautiful colors used as well - I hope this arrives quickly and safely to your son! Julia xx

Loll said...

Fantastic card for your son, Pat!! LOVE the design and will definitely check out Deb's video. Beautiful colouring of your background, with the deeper colours in the apertures. And amazing colouring of your octopus!! It's so cool how he winds in and out of the circles. xx

Cathy said...

Wow, this is such a clever card Pat! Reminds me of the octopus character in the novel "Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby van Pelt" I absolutely loved the book, so quirky and a bit of a tear jerker...I absolutely love your card too, the colouring is perfect. So glad it arrived on time for your son. We are such a long way from everywhere lol! Cathy x

Ida said...

What a fun card. Your coloring on the Octopus is awesome. Thanks to for the video link. I'll have to check it out.