Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Joanne Schempp's Valentia

For my card this week I chose to work with Joanne Schempp's gorgeous new Valentia digi stamp. I love this mermaid image and I had a lot of fun with this card, playing with the underwater theme...
I started off in the (for me) fairly usual way by colouring in the image with my Promarkers... but then I had the idea (one I've tried out once before when making a necklace) of using UTEE to coat the image to give a sort of shimmery underwater effect. I cut the coloured image out first and glued it firmly onto stiff cardboard (otherwise melting UTEE onto it will make the card curl inwards) and then pressed a Versmark pad over the entire image and added several successive layers of UTEE:
I love how a coat of UTEE makes the Promarker colours really intense, almost glowing. I also sprinkled in some very fine glitter powder, in shades of blue and gold, while adding the UTEE layers:
This gives a nice shimmery watery effect. I also added a few flakes of gold glass glitter here and there, allowing them to set into the UTEE. To finish off the image I swiped the edges with Versamark ink and added some embossing powder in pirate gold which I then heat set.
For the card itself, I was taken with the idea of replicating the strand of twisty seaweed from the image (which I'd added a layer of Stickles to before adding the UTEE coating) so I used some underwater-themed paper (by Graphic45) matted onto gold mirri card and cut lots of seaweed shapes using my Cameo. I cut these from plain white card and coloured them with my Promarkers, to match with the image, and also added Stickles to them:
Finally, some of the seaweed images had included little bubbles so I coloured those with Promarkers too and added them here and there, adding a layer of Glossy Accents to them for a sheeny, bubbly feel.
And that's my shimmery, sheeny, underwater mermaid card. Thanks for looking. :)

Ali xx

8 comments:

  1. Goegeous Ali!! I love how you have the seaweed coming up over the front and the UTEE effect is perfection!!
    I really like the overall effect you have gotten with this pretty image. TFS
    Connie

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  2. Wow!!! Ali, this is stunning!!
    I love the effect of the UTEE and all the details added. Great bright colors and fab coloring!

    Hugs, Randi

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  3. Lovely and nice idea with the UTEE!!!

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  4. Fabulous project - have no idea what UTEE is? Enjoyed reading how everything came together. I have a Cricut but don't use, find it much easier to use dies.
    Hoping you have inspired me to try and do more with my machine and bits and pieces I haven't tried yet!
    Best wishes, Sharon

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  5. Oh Ali i am wowed here with your card. Love all that shine and sparkles.
    Hugs Nat

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  6. UTEE is a great material, love it too, but haven't used for quite a while. You really inspired me to change this! Your card looks gorgeous, Ali! Love all the sparkling effect you have given. Perfect for an underwater scene.
    Hugs, Karina

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  7. Nice Ali, the coating of UTEE does make the marker colors more vibrant, which is perfect for that mermaid. Stunning creation this week.

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  8. Ali, so magical, I love it. The layout is gorgeous, your coloring is remarkable. Fantastic!

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