Flower Tail Mermaid Dreams

Hi everyone,

Isn't it funny how mistakes or 'oopses' as I like to call them lead to new techniques or looks? Case in point, Stickles.

Before I tell you details of my 'oops', a few details about my card:

For my card today, I used Elaine Coxs' Flower Tail Mermaid from Plate #48. She is stamped onto an ivory card stock. The base coloring is with Copics, then I went back with my Pitt Artist Pens and added some detail. Most of the detail is so subtle you can't see it in the picture, except for her tail. I also used the gray Pitt Artist pen to outline the stamped image. This I always do after the image is completely colored in. Why? Lo, if you know me at all, it's to hide any little stray colors that may have escaped the lines and to give the stamped image a bit of dimension.

I've been in awe of my fellow DT sisters ability to color hair, something that I at times still have trouble with especially showcasing the highlights. I LOVE red, seriously love it, but coloring red hair scares me, lol. And just like any other time when I first colored the hair, this image almost went into the trash. I've learned though to walk away, let the ink dry and then come back and 'play' with it which I did. Not perfect by any means - I often wonder if I'll ever get that highlight thing down - but she was definitely a keeper :-). (oh in case you wonder why I don't give specific copic colors used - because I use so many different colors that in the end I stop keeping track).

Because the red, orange and yellow copic ink bled into the flowers, I used my Pitt Artist pens to color these in and then 'hid' any bleeds by adding the rhinestone stickers. To fill in the background, I used a watercolor pencil in a dark yellow and then blended it with a blender pen. Now to my mistake, lol.

I've learned from experience to always squirt out the first dollop of stickles onto scratch paper because it never fails that a whole big glob of stickles will explode out of the nozzle. Well, I wasn't going to waste this glittery blob so I grabbed a paint brush and painted it on.

Honestly, I love it. At first I didn't think the glitter would be visible, but it really does show up nicely. And using a paint brush allowed me a little more control. Especially since I used a sturdy bristle brush.

I used some scrap wired ribbon. Curled the ends with my metal 'curlers' from Boye (from my quilting/doll sewing days) and tucked the ends underneath the image panel. The green fiber tissue was from a gift package, can you believe that? I'm so glad I kept it because that color green is perfect and adds a nice texture. Added a couple more rhinestone stickers and then decided to use the the square Edgar Allen Poe sentiment from Plate #1 - . Because I didn't pre-plan my card, the full sentiment was too large, so I just cut the word Dream out and framed it on the brown oval card stock. Oh and I just had to give that cute bunny a fluffy little tail :-)

Here's a another look at the final card:

I hope this inspired you to just experiment. With copics, with watercolors, pencils, glues, you name it. Sometimes the best results come from mistakes.