Hello everyone!  It’s well into Thursday for some of you, and that means it’s time for another week of inspiration over at CASE Study!

I have been itching to sit down and write this post, but I have been knee-deep in work, so I didn’t get to it in time for the strike-of-midnight reveal over at CASE.

We are back with another very cool card by Joni Andaya.  This week is a move in the more modern, trendy direction.

The minute I saw this card, back in Februrary, I knew exactly what I wanted to do, inspired not only by Joni’s technique, but also the gorgeous mercurial blue hues of the Puget Sound that lap pretty much at my back door.

I have always been drawn to bodies of water, so I am incredibly lucky to live steps from the beach.  I love watching how the Sound changes not only daily, but hourly in its depth and color.  I wanted to capture one of my favorite blues in this card.

What I love about Joni’s card is how she created that wonderful focal point where the colors lighten in the center.  First thought–its like what you see when you are swimming deep, and begin to come up toward the light.

So working from the margins toward the center of the watercolor paper, first with Peacock Feathers Distress Ink, and blending back, adding Tumbled Glass and Salty Ocean Distress Stains on the outer edges, I tried to create that effect.  Because I used a combination of the Distress Ink and Stains, which are liquid, I decided to use watercolor paper.  Most techniques blend with the ink pads only; I wanted to experiment a bit using both the ink and the liquid stains on my application sponges.

After blending my blues, I tapped water with a brush along the card.  Then I spritzed Heidi Swapp’s Color Shine in white and Mr Huey’s Shine mist to give it a pearlescent effect, which you can really see in the photo below.

In keeping with the sea theme, I wanted to create a lot of slippery and rough textures.

For the heart and arrow, both die cut from the Lil’ Inkers set, Of the Heart, I blended alcohol inks in Watermelon and Sunset Orange onto Ranger Gloss Finish Paper.  I have been playing around with my alcohol inks quite a bit and will reveal some of them soon!

Using some of the Melissa Frances Glass Glitter in Deep Pink, which is wonderfully chunky, I adhered this with Glossy Accents onto my arrow, creating some gorgeous deep sea coral!

Now for those letters!  You likely recognize them from Mama Elephant; they have appeared on a few of my cards lately.  I initially cut the negatives in my paper; then I die cut multiple letters in black cardstock, adhering 4 layers of letters.

I covered with Glossy Accents, and when dry adhered below my panel so they are just about surfacing atop the blue.  I used some gorgeous turquoise Bazzill paper for my layer underneath the panel, leaving some of it peeking out from the bottom, to play on the variant blues and add some interest and additional depth.

My little nest of silver thread was a final touch on the front, which echoes for me fishing line and the silvery streams of fish that shimmer by when you are swimming or snorkeling.  A bit of Crate Paper’s DIY Shop adhesive paper finishes off the back and inside.  The grey stripe really seemed to add an important element to this card; can’t explain it–it just worked!!

I have a few other cards with this distressing technique waiting in the wings.  So be sure to check back soon for those!

May your day go swimmingly and may you find yourself deep in delight.  If you head over to CASE Study right now to see what the rest of the design team conjured, you no doubt will!

Here are direct links to each fabulous designer if you want to blog hop!

Chupa
Amy Wanford
(Amy’s not playing this week 😦 , but get over to her blog anyway for amazing creations!)
Clare Buswell
Debby Hughes
Jeanne Jachna
Maureen Merritt
Silke Ledlow
Tasnim Ahmed