Guest Post: Under the Sea by Sam

When we put out our call for new Design Team members at the start of the year, we had so many fantastic entries that we really were disappointed we couldn't just take everyone. So we came up with a plan to contact some of the shortlisted people and see if they would do a guest post and today I'm delighted to introduce the first of our guest blog posts.

Our first post is Sam of A Bit of Crafty Genius so without further ado, here is Sam's wonderful sea inspired project.

Hi all, Sam here

I can't begin to tell you all how excited I was to be asked to do a guest post for Chocolate Baroque. I have been drooling over their designs for a long time, since I was introduced to them by a fellow fan. I'm sure you all are with me there, am I right?

When I first received my stamps I couldn't wait to get started. I have only recently come home from holiday to Cancun and Playa del Carmen so I was in tropical mode all the way. I chose the Underwater stamp set and let me tell you, it was full of gorgeous sea elements. When I saw it, I immediately got an idea in my head and went ahead and ordered the Decorative Edges set too, for its bubbles stamp. I am so in love with the faded Harlequin stamp in that set as well, but that's another story!

 

I gathered my supplies which include Tim Holtz distress inks, markers and a waterbrush, various embossing powders, some heat-proof acetate, watercolour paper and a pre-scored pearlescent square card. I also had at hand my water spritzer with pearlescent water, my craft mat, scissors, a heat gun and embossing ink, some gems and an idea-ology glass bottle with cork.

 

I started with my card base. I knew I wanted to have an acetate front so I decided to cut an entire panel from the front of the card. I cut my acetate to size and heat embossed in white my bubbles stamp from the Decorative Edges set. I glued my acetate to the small edge I had left on the front of the card and glued a strip to the bottom of the acetate to give it a bit more stability.

 

Once my base was on its way, I chose to decorate the inside of the card rather than leave it white. I cut a piece of watercolour paper slightly smaller than my card so that I could mount it on the inside. I pressed several colours of blue distress ink on my craft mat and sprayed with my pearlescent water. This created the marbled effect that I pressed my watercolour paper into. I quickly dried my paper and then pressed it in again to give more of a splotchy look. I set this aside to dry.

 

While my background was drying I stamped and heat embossed several images from the Underwater stamp set in different coloured embossing powders. I used metallic ones, and some with sparkle, to give my underwater scene a magical quality to it. Once these were ready I fussy cut them and watercoloured with my distress inks and pens.

 

Having finished my loose elements, I went back to my marbled background and started stamping a scene to be placed behind the acetate. Unfortunately while I was doing this, I was concentrating on what would be visible on the front while the card was closed and failed to remember that the card could be opened and the inside visible on its own. This made it a little bit challenging as I now had to make sure the inside would be just as appealing without the front of the card blocking it. I had also only stamped at the middle/top of the card and the bottom of the card was rather messy. To fix this I heat embossed a mix of embossing powers to create a sandy sea bed. This completed my background which I then adhered to the inside of my card.

 

With the inside of the card finished and the acetate ready to go, I started adhering my sea elements. I found with just the 3 coloured pieces it was looking very sparse so I gathered some gems and stuck those down around the bottom, to give the illusion of treasure on the sea floor. As a final addition to my card I 'aged' a strip of paper which I rolled up and inserted into my glass bottle. I added a bit of the same 'sand' mixture into the bottle and replaced the cork. This I stuck down with glossy accents.

 

Unfortunately all of the glitter and shine of the card is hard to capture on camera (at least for us amateur photographers) so a bit of the magic was lost on film, but I assure you, it's beautiful!

Thank you for taking the time to read my ramblings and thanks to Glenda from Chocolate Baroque, I hope to see you around here again some day. And if you feel so inclined, please feel free to come visit me at my blog over at http://abitofcraftygenius.blogspot.co.uk/ 

Sam

Thanks so much Sam for a great project, we love it!  Please join me in saying a big thanks to Sam by leaving her a comment, I'm sure she would appreciate it!