Happy Mothers Day Dolphin Card {05.14.2017}

My Mom LOVES dolphins ... so I had to incorporate a dolphin (with a baby!) into her Mother's Day card this year. This is what I made:

I wanted to do a lot of texture for this card, and I also wanted a lot of dimension and different textures. I found a really fun dolphin stencil from The Crafters Workshop. The stencil is called Mini Dolphins and has dolphins on it, along with waves, seaweed, and shell shapes. I laid the stencil over watercolor paper, masked off the waves and seaweed, and blended some distress inks through the stencil. I did some shading to have the blues on the dolphin go from light to dark. Then, with the stencil still in place, I used a palette knife to add some Blue Topaz Glimmer Paste from Sparkle N Sprinkle to the dolphins. I wanted a bit of an ombre effect with the glimmer paste, so I didn't apply it solidly through the stencil. I concentrated more glimmer paste in some areas and then faded it out. After the dolphins dried, I cut a paper mask of the dolphin shapes and covered them, and then blended on some orange and yellow distress inks to create a sunset background. Here are the momma and baby dolphins close up.

I used Lawn Fawn's Happy Happy Happy stamp set for the sentiment, and stamped out the sentiment in black ink. I sprinkled on Sparkle N Sprinkle's Clear Detail embossing powder, and heat set it. Then, I die cut the "happy" with its coordinating die. I trimmed the "mother's day" sentiment into a strip. Before I layered all the card parts together, I colored some white embossing paste with blue distress inks and stirred it just a little bit to have varied depths of blue and white in the paste. I applied it to my card background through the waves on the dolphin stencil. I didn't smooth the paste well, so that it had a lot of depth and texture. After I layered everything together, I also glued on some acrylic crystals I had in my stash. I have no idea what they are for, or where I got them, but I thought they looked like big chunks of sea foam and added them to the card :)

Here is another photo of the embossing paste waves. I also sprinkled on Sparkle N Sprinkle's Ocean glitter to some of the waves to add a bit more sparkle and shine to some of the waves. I also applied a couple sequins. For the beach in the foreground, I laid a strip of 2-1/2" "Tear-ific" Tape from Sparkle N Sprinkle onto cardstock, and used Lawn Fawn's Stitched Hillside Borders to cut it into an undulating beach pattern. I peeled off the upper and lower portion of the "Tear-ific" Tape and then sprinkled on Sparkle N Sprinkle's Bronze Glass Glitter. I pressed this in (it is chunky, but isn't sharp so you can touch it and press it). I pulled off the rest of the release paper, and then added a few little bits of the Bronze Glass Glitter, then dumped on Sparkle N Sprinkle's Sparkling Sands. I pressed this in too, and then dusted off the remainder. This gave texture and dimension to the beach area. But, as always, I wanted MORE! I whipped out some more water color paper, and did an ink smooshing technique (I swiped some distress inks onto my craft mat, spritzed the ink with water, then smooshed my water color paper into the puddle of ink). After the paper dried, I die cut them with Memory Box Seaside Treasures (sadly, now retired) dies. I adhered real shells and the water color paper shells onto the beach for even MORE!

Another area of the beach with all the cool things, including shells, die cut shells, glass glitter, and sparkling soft glitter.

And because I can't get enough of how much fun this was to make ... here is another photo of the beach with all the shells and textures. I loved this part of the card! Woot woot! Bring on summer and the beach!

I added a piece of cardstock to the inside of the card. I stamped a sentiment from Taylored Expressions My Favorite Mom stamp set. These sentiments crack me up! This one was so funny, and I thought it was perfect :) Don't tell my brother I said this though ... he thinks he is Mom's favorite!

To tie the card all together, I used a light blue distress ink and blended ink through the dolphin stencil on the side of the inside panel.

And, on the opposite side of the inside panel, I distress inked some seaweed from the stencil too, in two shades of green distress inks.

I hope my Mom likes this card. I had a really good time making it, and I love how it turned out ... I hope it stands up getting mailed 2,500 miles. Happy Mother's Day Mom, I love you!!

And, I am also entering this card into the Cardz 4 Galz #47 Challenge: Add Some Texture.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a magical day!

-Chris

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