CIC 499 | Birthday Boat | Nautical

The newest Cupcake Inspirations Challenge is a themed one, and we’re looking for nautical projects! If you’ve been following my blog or YouTube channel recently you’ll have noticed that I’ve been very busy with a number of different hops (this one and this one are both still open for entries to the giveaways!) Because I was so busy I wanted to try to make something quick for today’s challenge project. This is what I came up with.

I started by creating my background. I used the acrylic block stamping technique that I showed in a Halloween video a couple of years ago. You can find that here. Basically I inked up an acrylic block, this time using Tumbled Glass, Mermaid Lagoon and Stormy Sky Distress Oxides. I then spritzed the inked block well with water to get it moving and laid a piece of watercolour paper on top of it. I then placed another acrylic block on top to weigh it down.

I left the background to sit for a little while, then flipped the piece over so that I could remove the acrylic block. The panel was still pretty wet, and as I was trying to work quickly I did use my WOW! Dual Speed Heat Tool to dry the panel. If I wasn’t in a hurry I probably would have left it to dry naturally.

With the panel fully dried I ran it through my die cutting machine with a die from Mama Elephant’s Lafayette Frame dies. The very bottom of the resulting die cut panel had a little white which I didn’t want, so I pressed the edge into the Tumbled Glass ink (as that was the ink closest to the white area), then used a sponge to blend the edge so that it matched the rest of the ink.

For my focal point I bought in a sailing boat die, which I believe came in a Love From Lizi Mega Pack. I cut it from a snippet of white card and popped out all the negative pieces I didn’t need. I then used some Spectrum Noir Illustrator markers to add colour to the boat.

I used more white snippets to create two banners with MFT’s Stitched Sentiment Strips Dienamics. I stamped one of them with a simple Happy Birthday sentiment which I took from Pink & Main’s Dinomite stamps and stamped with Tumbled Glass ink.

Using the grid lines on my craft mat to help me get everything straight I adhered the boat onto the longer banner, and added the shorter banner in front of it. I made the mistake of adhering my watercolour panel to my card base next, when really I should have first adhered the focal element to the panel so that I could easily trim off the overhanging excess pieces of banner before sticking the blue panel down. I was able to use my craft knife to trim away the pieces, but it would have been easier if I’d done things the correct way around!

I really do enjoy the acrylic block stamping technique – it is a great way to make quick and easy watercolour background that can be quite striking. I’m not sure where the purpley shade at the bottom of my panel came from… I guess there was some colour from something on my block before I added the blues. I think it looks pretty though, so I don’t mind! I hope this inspires you to come and join in with our Nautical challenge. You can find more inspiration from the rest of the team in our launch post or directly on their blogs via the links below. Plus, our next challenge will be our 500th and we’ll be having a big celebration, so make sure not to miss that!

Love,

Lady Joyful

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Challenges included:

Allsorts Challenge – Masculine

Cupcake Inspirations Challenge – Nautical

Kat Scrappiness Challenge – Birthday

Lil Patch of Crafty Friends – Anything Goes

MFT Sketch Challenge – Sketch

Polkadoodles Craft Challenge – Anything Goes

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday – Anything Goes

STAMPlorations Summer Challenge – Anything Goes

The House That Stamps Built – Anything Goes

Through The Craft Room Door – Anything Goes

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Check out what the rest of the DT made:

Charlotte (that’s me!)

Debbie

Ishani

Kim

Pioniya

Sandy

Sue N.

Sue T.

Vicki