"One Stamp, Five Ways" - SSS Best Fishes

Hello. I'm alive and well over here albeit a bit crazy. We had our last week of school and I had an 8th grade graduate and a college graduate this week! Very proud mommy moments. I actually made all of the cards for my "one stamp, five ways" post in one day this time! But this stamp set is SO darn cute, I still love my rushed projects! Let's hope you do too! Since I have been doing this blog post series, I am getting so much faster at creating cards! Here is the stamp set called BEST FISHES:

I discovered this stamp set when I first got into stamping and card making right after CHA 2015. All of my jobs in the scrapbooking industry had dried up (or gone out of business is a better description). I had worked in that industry for over 10 years making scrapbook pages as a job. As I walked around CHA that year, I realized my scrapping days might be coming to an end as well - I just felt burnt out and unmotivated to make any more pages. I also felt really excited by all the stamp manufacturers and couldn't get enough of staring at all the cute images! After the show, I went CRAZY buying stamp sets and card making supplies. I felt like a whole new world of crafting was available to me. And considering my son went off and got married and my two girls were now teenagers and didn't want me taking their pictures anymore, it was perfect timing! Because I was new to this crafting hobby, every single stamp set was new to ME, so I bought many that weren't brand new like this one above. It was released some time ago - maybe two years ago? I'm not even sure. But even today it is my favorite fish stamp set. So I decided to use it for my first post of our official summer here! 

That was a long lead up to showing you my creations! I made five cards with this set today. The stamp set is sold alone or you can buy it with the dies that go with it. Because this is an older set, it doesn't come with as many dies as most sets do today. It has dies for the three fish, the little treasure chest, and the fish bowl. But that also means the dies are less expensive than sets are now (only $15.99)! I found them worth purchasing as I really needed the fish bowl die to make some of my cards. You can also buy the two together as a set HERE. And last, they came out with a stencil I will be using called Waves which is sold separately or you can buy all three together HERE. Ok, now let's get started!

I'm so excited to share this one as it is my favorite. But it's so hard to show how cool it is in a photo! The fishbowl is set INTO the card which I love the look of. This really isn't a very good photo though... Here are my directions! Let's try this in a bullet point format this time!

1. Die cut a stitched rectangle (card size here from the Lawn Fawn large stitched rectangle set) out of white cardstock
2. Die cut the fish bowl out of the bottom center of this piece
3. Rub a little bit of Tumbled Glass Distress Ink around the outside of the fish bowl on the white rectangle piece with a Ranger Blending Tool
4. Take the inside of the fish bowl and use a Ranger Blending Tool to add Distress Inks to this piece (I used Mermaid Lagoon, Tumbled Glass, and Peacock Feathers )
5. Attach this piece to a card base by laying the rectangle over the card base and positioning it right below the opening
6. Die cut one more fish bowl out of white cardstock and color it gray with Copics
7. Turn the white cardstock rectangle over and place the outside of the fish bowl piece that is not colored into the opening; attach adhesive to this area and place a piece of transparency over the fish bowl opening
8. Build up two layers of foam tape over the backside of this piece (I use two layers so it is thicker and the sequins can move around freely)
9. Attach some fish and other stamped/die cut images to the inside of the fish bowl on the card base; I stamped them with SSS Intense Black Ink on Neenah White Cardstock and colored with Copics; add details with a white Uniball
10. Pour some sequins over this piece keeping them all in the center - I used the PPP ones in the supplies below
11. Attach the rectangle over the card base making sure all of the sequins are nested inside the covering
12. Attach the other fish bowl piece that you colored gray over the one this is white so it is higher than the fishbowl 
13. Stamp the sentiment on the top of the card with black ink
14. Add some PPP sparkly clear sequins to each side of the sentiment

Yep, same old technique with this set as I always do because I love it! Steps:

1. Die cut a stitched rectangle card size (Lawn Fawn large stitched rectangle set used here) out of watercolor paper
2. Stamp all the fish and other elements on this piece using SSS Intense Black Ink - I do some upside down and topsy turvy and all over the place, but you could make them all face one way running horizontal if you prefer it that way!
3. Watercolor all of the images - I used Distress Inks, but then added some shading with my Zig Clean Color brush watercolor markers
4. Paint the background with some of the same colors in the card
5. Paint the entire card with a Clear Wink of Stella marker to add sheen
6. Add some details with a white Uniball
7. Stamp the sentiment on a white banner with black ink; outline this piece with gold and orange gel pens (I used a gold Uniball and the orange pen that was in my SSS June Card Kit); attach this to the top of the card
8. Attach the entire piece to an orange card base'

This is my glossy accents fish bowl - had to make one all shiny like a real one! Steps:

1. Die cut a stitched rectangle from white cardstock - I used the one from MFT Blueprints 13 that is one size smaller than a card base
2. Stamp the fish bowl with SSS Black Intense ink on the bottom left side of this piece 
3. Stamp the fish bowl and the fish I used on piece of masking paper and cut them out; for the fish bowl, only cut the inside of it out - leave some space around the outside edges
4. Attach the masking paper over the fish bowl and stamp the wave stamp on the top of the fish bowl (I had to cover the two sides as well with scrap paper)
5. Stamp the fish in the top center of the bowl; cover him with the masking paper
6. Stamp the sand piece on the bottom of the bowl; stamp all the other pieces of coral and seaweed on the bottom of the bowl
7. Remove the masking paper from both pieces
8. Color all the elements with Copic markers; color the water area of the fish bowl with blues and then use a Colorless Blender pen to remove some spots of color
9. Stamp best fishes on the bottom of the card and use gray Copic markers to add shading below the bowl
10. Add glossy accents over the inside of the fish bowl and let dry
11. Attach this piece to an orange card base 

I used the cute little Waves stencil on this one. Here are the steps:

1. Die cut a stitched rectangle from watercolor paper (I used Ranger here since it is pure white and I used MFT Blueprints 13)
2. Attach the Waves Stencil over this piece of watercolor paper and tape it in place; use a Ranger blending tool to rub on Distress inks in these colors: Twisted Citron, Mermaid Lagoon, and Peacock Feathers.
3. Remove the stencil and spray the entire thing with a water bottle; let it sit for about 30 secs and then soak up the water with a paper towel; add larger water spots by flicking water onto the piece; let sit for 30 secs and wipe off as well
4. Die cut a stitched banner using MFT Blueprints 20 from the same watercolor paper; stamp "keep swimming" with Lawn Fawn Fish Tank ink and the two fish with Lawn Fawn Peacock ink; attach banner on bottom of the rectangle
5. Attach this piece to a teal card base
6. Stamp and die-cut several fish out of white cardstock and color with Copic markers
7. Add details with a white Uniball
8. Attach all of the fish to the top of the waves
9. Attach some 4mm sparkling clear sequins as if they are bubbles coming out of the fish mouths

I must be honest and admit I made this card at least a year ago and it was used in my Big Picture Classes Watercolor Class (which is still available to take if you are interested and is free if you take it during a two week free trial)! But I do still remember the steps to make it so here they are:

1. Stamp a cling rubber background stamp (I used one by MFT that is no longer available) on a watercolor card base with Versamark Ink and emboss with white embossing powder
2. Watercolor over this background with greens and blues - I used Distress Inks (if you take my class linked above, you can see me making this on a video - whoopee!)
3. Stamp white fish bowl and the other stamped elements on Mixed Media paper and die-cut
4. Watercolor all of these elements including the inside of the fish bowl; I used one of the seaweed pieces as the top of the water level
5. Attach all of these pieces to the card front
6. Stamp a Lawn Fawn banner from the Home Sweet Home stamp set and die-cut with the matching dies using black ink; stamp Happy Birthday or any salutation you have in the center of the banner; attach the banner to the top center of the card

Isn't this the cutest stamp set - you seeing it now?!?!?! I love it and I wanted to make more cards with it - so many ideas, but too little time. Ok, I have a really busy week again coming up - but this time a busy work week with lots of blog posting. I have a new stamp set and set of watercolor cards due, I have a blog post going up with the SSS July Card Kit, I have a blog post going up with a stamp set from the brand new SSS summer release, and I am part of a SSS blog hop on Friday showing off this new release where I will have another set of summer watercolor cards up for sale - whooooooopeeee. Lots of work and lots of sharing. And then I shall rest. On the beach! xo

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Comments

[Carol L]

Glad you are alive and well!! Congrats on the graduations. Those are exciting times. I like your bullet point format. That really lays it out for a person like me who needs a lot of help! And your cards - AWESOME!! The 2nd one - amazing with the random stamping. Looks like it takes a long time to color that many images! Looking forward to your many posts coming this week. Then enjoy your time on the beach! You deserve it!

[Jeanne]

Congratulations on the big milestones in the family! So exciting!! Fabulous cards! I can see why you like these fish so well. They look very fun to color. I love all the ways you used them. I really, really like your random stamping one and the one with the blues and the greens. Your work is always fun, fresh and inspiring! :)