Stay Patient and Be a Mermaid

Sometimes, I feel like if there was a crafty version of Lucille Ball, that would be the closest to me in terms of how I create most of my techniques - basically 100% by accident.

And I do think if you allow yourself to try things without fear, those accidents can end up really teaching you a lot.

One such accident happened at my very first retreat several years ago. We were doing my updated shaving cream technique - where you make a modern version of sort of a dated technique with the use of stencils. You can see my video on that here.

Well we got distracted, and we left a bunch of the dyed plates of shaving cream sitting around and we just chatted all night - well into the night. After everyone went to bed, I was cleaning up and I noticed that the shaving cream had sort of oxidized and gotten bubbly. I could not resist pulling a print with it - and I LOVED it! I went home after retreat and played some more, and this was a very repeatable technique, and so I incorporated it into my NEXT retreat and we played for hours.

It's a fun and simple technique that is perfect for beach/ocean backgrounds and galaxy backgrounds, but it does require patience, which you'll see in the video below.

But I'm burying the lead! My sweet friend Julie has a new release today and it's ADORABLE, just like her. If you love mythical creatures, you'll love it. So let's start with our Inner Mermaid!

I used the technique to create the background, and then I stamped the tail from the set in Verdant ink on Fabriano, and watercolored it with Daniel Smith watercolor. Then I stamped the sentiment in Nocturne, and mounted it on Easter Grass cardstock and then onto no-shed glitter paper and then onto a white card base. Hard to see, but I also coated the whole tail in the super shimmery Nuvo shimmer pen and it's very sparkly.

Inner Mermaid by Julie Ebersole [ ELH ] Inner Mermaid Dies by Julie Ebersole [ ELH ] VersaFine Clair Ink Pad, Verdant -... [ ELH ] VersaFine Clair Ink Pad, Nocturne -... [ ELH ] Ranger Distress Reinker, Blueprint... [ ELH ] Ranger Distress Reinker, Peacock... [ ELH ] Ranger Distress Reinker, Tumbled... [ ELH ] Concord & 9th Paper Pack, Neutral... [ ELH ] Tonic Nuvo Aqua Shimmer Pen 2 pk -... [ ELH | SSS ] Fabriano Extra White Cold Press... [ BLIC ] Neenah Cardstock, Neenah Classic... [ ELH ] Bazzill Card Shoppe Cardstock, Easter... [ ELH ] Barbasol Original Thick and Rich... [ AMZUS ] DMtse 100 Pcs Nail Art Orange Wood... [ AMZUS ] Daniel Smith Extra Fine Watercolors [ BLIC ] Da Vinci Cosmotop Sable Mix F Brushes... [ BLIC | ELH ] Escoda Versatil Brushes, Travel Round... [ UTR ] MISTI Stamping Tool [ MSW | ELH | MFT ] Lawn Fawn Stamp Shammy [ ELH ] Rotatrim Professional Series Cutter -... [ BLIC ] Nesting Porcelain Bowls - BLICK art... [ BLIC ] My Favorite Watercolor Sketchbook [ UTR ] Absorber - Synthetic Cleaning Cloth [ AMZUS ] 05816-1008 - Da Vinci Cosmotop Spin... [ BLIC ] Mudder 10 Pack White Buffer Sanding... [ AMZUS ] Xyron ADHESIVE ERASER 23675 [ SSS | ART | AMZUS ] Essentials by Ellen Storage... [ ELH ] Teflon Bone Folder - Ellen Hutson LLC [ ELH | SSS ] Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue, 0.88... [ ELH ]

Isn't that gorgeous?? I love all the motion in the tail and the background. So fun.

Here's what the full stamp set looks like - the sentiments are perfect - I love "shell yeah" and "what the shell?":

I cut the tail out with matching dies before gluing it onto the background.

Then, I had to tackle the unicorns! Julie designed a separate sentiment set that works with BOTH the mermaid and the unicorn sets with the cutest sentiments. 

I had to pair the little unicorn and rainbows with the "I'm so happy you exist" sentiment - it's so perfect! I stamped the unicorn and rainbows in Memento on Solar White. Then I colored them with the markers listed below, and shimmered the whole unicorn with the Nuvo Shimmer pen. Then I die cut a circle from this beautiful partly cloudy paper with the Circle Infinity Dies, and cut the bottom off in my paper trimmer, before lining the bottom of the rainbow up with that straight edge. The unicorn and rainbows were cut with the matching dies. 

Unicorns & Rainbows [ ELH ] Pure Magic by Julie Ebersole [ ELH ] Unicorns n Rainbows Dies by Julie... [ ELH ] Rainbow Slider Dies by Julie Ebersole [ ELH ] Ella and Viv Paper Company The Great... [ SBC ] Neenah Cardstock, Neenah Classic... [ ELH ] Memento Ink Pad, Tuxedo Black - Ellen... [ ELH ] Memento Reinker, Tuxedo Black - Ellen... [ ELH ] Hero Arts Dies, Infinity Nesting... [ ELH ] Tonic Nuvo Aqua Shimmer Pen 2 pk -... [ ELH | SSS ] COPIC Sketch Marker FV2, Fluorescent... [ ELH ] COPIC Sketch Marker B04, Tahitian... [ ELH ] COPIC Sketch Marker YG05, Salad -... [ ELH ] COPIC Sketch Marker Y08, Acid Yellow... [ ELH ] COPIC Sketch Marker YR68, Orange -... [ ELH ] COPIC Sketch Marker R29, Lipstick Red... [ ELH ] MISTI Stamping Tool [ MSW | ELH ] MISTI (2759) [ MFT ] Absorber - Synthetic Cleaning Cloth [ AMZUS ] Rotatrim Professional Series Cutter -... [ BLIC ] 05816-1008 - Da Vinci Cosmotop Spin... [ BLIC ] Mudder 10 Pack White Buffer Sanding... [ AMZUS ] Xyron ADHESIVE ERASER 23675 [ SSS | ART | AMZUS ] Essentials by Ellen Storage... [ ELH ] Teflon Bone Folder - Ellen Hutson LLC [ ELH | SSS ] Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue, 0.88... [ ELH ] Ink Off Cloth [ INK ]

You can actually see the sparkle in her mane this time!

This became my sister in law's birthday card - happy birthday Jessica!

Here's the full stamp set and matching dies.

So fanciful. 

Fanciful is important. Keeps you happy while everyone else in the world is arguing about politics. 

Julie is also releasing this super fun rainbow slider die today, so be sure to check that out on the site. I bought it, but I haven't had time to play yet! 

Ready for the background video? Watch below or click here to watch in HD on YouTube.

Then go raid your bathroom for shaving cream! I'll deny that I encouraged that though, just so you know.

What do you have planned for the weekend? I'm teaching my class, so I'm looking forward to stamping and lunching with my favorite peeps!