Darling it’s better down where it’s wetter, Under The Sea!

Some of you will remember this happy jellyfish which I made when ‘Playing with Polyfilla‘  at the beginning of June.  I decided that I couldn’t just sit with this making my desk look pretty  (held by one of those  GREAT BIG PEGS), so after some thought,  I decided today to make a card with it.

Under the Sea – (photograph taken using just the sunlight from the window)

I made another ‘clam shell’  from a die cut,  (a little like the one on the ‘I’d Swim Oceans for You‘ tag I made a couple of weeks ago), only this time I made the colours inside more muted mother of pearl with softer colours, and edged the ‘shell’ in gold, so that it ‘spoke’ to the card which the Jellyfish was on.

The clam shell was made from a die cut (the darker pink) which I backed with some pale pink card which I drew around the die to get the shape, then once cut out I fixed it to the back of the die cut shell.

It was my original intention to take photographs after the addition of each colour, but … my brain let me down and I forgot.  This is the only photo I remembered to take – at the half way stage.

Six colours of powders, one Gold embossing pad, and a Zig embossing pen, were used to make the clam shell.

 

This  ‘clam shell’  originally started out as a die cut

All the shells I’ve used on this card (see one of the bigger photos to spot them all) are all real shells (not plastic or resin), but some of them I hand decorated to add a little colour and interest to them …

Real Shells – coloured up.

This is really easy to do, simply using the  very.  fine.  nib. Sharpies.  Because these particular shells are so teeny tiny I had to use the magnifying glass which is on an arm of my craft desk lamp, as I found it really difficult to see the places where my pen had to go next – I was staring so hard I was going ‘boss eyed’, so the magnifying  glass was very much appreciated!

I won’t bore you to tears telling you all the elements of this card because you can see them yourself without me yammering on.  But … if there’s anything you want to know about, or ask where I got something from, or who’s make of something or other I used … anything.  Any thing at all…  you just ask away.  I’m more than happy to share information.

Under the Sea ~ photograph taken using a photographers little spotlight.

Before signing off,  I just want to say hello to a couple of new followers who have joined our crew here at The Cobweborium Emporium this past week.  I won’t name you, but you are very much welcome here.  Please feel free to wander around and leave comments where-ever you wish to. I know how it can be a bit daunting to make that first post, but even if you just want to say hello, I promise I’ll chat back to you.

Well, that’s me cooked to a turn!   So …What have you been up to this past week? Have you made anything that I’ve missed .. if so please do give me a poke in a comment.  I’ve noticed that the Reader can sometimes miss things so I try to regularly visit blogs I follow just in case I’ve missed a post.  Been somewhere fabulous?  Bought something naughty which will make us all drool?  Or just stayed happily where you are and enjoyed the sunshine/breeze/winter/summer/park/dog/ … or anything else?  I’m all ears … so do share!  🙂

It’s Wednesday today, and I call that  ‘Tipping Day’  –  because it tips the beginning of the week towards the end.  May the rest of your week be truly lovely.  May you be given something to smile about, something which makes you happy and .. may you make at least one wonderful memory every day for the rest of the week.

Take care out there … and …  have a blessed rest of your day my friends.

Sending love,  from me here to you there,  ~

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I’d swim oceans for you.

I dedicate this tag to my wonderful husband – because  I’d swim oceans for him.

As some of you know (from my last blog post) I had a divil of a job photographing this tag.  (Many thanks go to Kim Styles for her helpful suggestions!).  I’ve chosen a selection of photos from the two and a half million that I took, and hope that they give you even a little ‘feel’ of this tag, which has an under the sea theme to it.  (how strange is it Kim that you and I both chose an under the sea theme for our latest projects?!)

There are various bits and pieces on this tag …

• the fishing net – I made myself out of white string, because I didn’t have any proper net.
• Two metal charms  – the smaller of the two star fish (caught in the fishing net), and the little silver sea-horse.
• The two-tone shell,  purple and silver,  is actually a real shell which I coloured up using Sharpies.
• Sequins – in four colours
• A tiny plastic shell
• The pearl (in the clam shell – bottom left of the tag) – is from a broken necklace.
• The Ammonite, the Anchor, Conch Shell, large silvery Star Fish and the Clam Shell – are all made from die cuts.

I’ve taken photographs using different lighting, or without lighting at all, in order to try to give you a hint of what this tag looks like when seen with the naked eye.

The ammonite (close up in the above photo) was stamped with embossing ink, then embossed with silver powder from Tonic and finally coloured using Spectrum Aqua Artist’s Markers.  It looks gold in this photograph above – but that’s because (I think) it’s picking up those peach, warm yellow and soft brown colours I used to colour up the ammonite.

The greeny brown looking smudges in the background are actually gold.  I coloured up the tag with the teal you see, then sprayed a little misting spray in gold, to just add a kind of  warm twinkle to the look of the ‘sea’.

The Clam Shell was cut from a die (top photo, above),  backed with some card and then manipulated into the shape I wanted it to be.  I used a variety of different coloured embossing powders then, sprinkled into different places,  to give it that wonderful, ‘mother of pearl’ look to the inside of the shell.

This (in the above photo) shows the original die cut next to the end result – so that you can see how it’s been shaped to look like a ‘real’ clam.

The photo above shows the two different colours of card I used to actually make the base of the shell, along with the finished shell.  The pearl I fixed in place using Glue Gel.

I’ve included this – ↑ – out of focus photo in the hope that you might get a rough idea of what this looks like in ‘real life’.  If you squint at the picture and wait a second until your focus corrects itself through your squinted eyes, you might get a different ‘look’ and show you what I was aiming for.  (if you right-click on the photo, then chose ‘open in new tab’ – you should get a slightly bigger picture to make things easier for you).

You know when you’re stood on a beach and the waves come in and lap round your feet … then just as the water slips back again, there is that magical moment when the wet sand twinkles magically in the sunlight?   Well I was after getting that magical twinkle … and at the same time I wanted things to look like they were floating beneath the sea, being pulled gently by that fishing net.  When you’re holding the tag in your hand you get this sort of fuzziness around the net and because it’s all higgeldy piggeldy, it kinda looks like it’s floating beneath the sea.

The ‘Recipe’:

• Stamps and Dies used on this tag are all by Couture Creations, from their Sea Breeze collection.
• Various colours of Tonic Embossing Powders
• Twinkle Embossing Powder by Personal Impressions, in Turquoise Sparkle
• Colouring Pens used are Spectrum Aqua Artist’s Markers.
• Card stock used for die cuts was all from off-cuts.
• All the rest of the ‘stuff’, is all from stash.

Thank you so much for coming and sharing this tag with me.  I cannot explain how much it means to have you here.  If you’d like to leave a comment, about this tag or anything else: asking a question, to introduce yourself, or even just to say hello – I’d be thrilled to pieces to hear from you.  Comments are such a genuine pleasure to me as I look on them as your way of leaving a footprint behind so that I know who you are, can say hello to you, and it’s just such a lovely way to get us all talking to each other.  So please feel very welcome to say hello.

Well, that’s me done and dusted for another day.  All that’s left for me to say is …  Have a wonderful Monday.  May it be the beginning of a lovely week for you.  Be safe out there and … if you’re old enough to remember Sgt Stan Jablonski:  “Let’s do it to them before they do it to us!”.  (I know Sgt Jablonski meant something else,  but by that I mean … let’s be nice to other people before they get the chance to be nice to us.  Somehow,  I’ve found,  it makes me feel like I’m walking on air when I’ve made someone else smile.  Try it.  It’s a wonderful feeling).

Have a truly great week all.