Hello: Polaroid mermaid

I swear that next month, whatever image Gerda gives us for the progressive challenge, I am just going to colour it and put it on a card base¹. That was, more or less, my intention this month, but then I saw all the creative things that people were doing with this scene and I wanted to do something different if I could. I was still planning on doing something simple when I started tidying up after creating another card… and there was a spare Polaroid die-cut on the desk… doomed…

How:

First deconstruct your scene. I separated out the different elements and printed them with (just) enough room around them to cut them out with the two sizes of Polaroid dies.

Then colour all the pieces and figure out how to make a watery background that won’t look rubbish when all the elements are brought together at slightly unpredictable angles. (Basically draw lots of curvy lines in three similar colours so that there is a feeling of movement without it being too defined.)

Die-cut the polaroid frames from glossy card. Fit the coloured panels inside them and hold them in place with a bit of sellotape.

Now comes the fun bit. Arrange the pieces so that they fit neatly together and you don’t end up with an absolutely huge card. Some time later…

Now you know how big an area the Polaroids will take up, you can create the background using the same technique as for the individual images. I think I may need to add BG34 to the Copic refill shopping list. The sea bed is simply a layer of colour covered with lots of dots of different sizes and colours.

The mermaid images were glued flat to the background and the smaller supporting images were popped up on some thin foam tape. I didn’t trust my ability — even with the MISTI — to stamp a sentiment cleanly on the gloss card, so I did it on a piece of white vellum and heat embossed it. I held that in place with some multi medium matte hidden behind a couple of small sequins.

The whole thing was mounted on a dark blue pearlised card base, leaving a thin border. And now I need to go make a custom envelope for it.

I don’t know who will get this, but it will definitely be someone who really appreciates mermaids 🙂

Challenges:

• Gerda Steiner Designs progressive challenge – July
• The Daily Marker 30 Day Colouring Challenge

Supplies:

• stamps:
  Tim Holtz – crazy talk
• digital stamps:
  Gerda Steiner Designs – mermaid
• dies:
  Mama Elephant – polaroid fun
• inks:
  ranger – archival – jet black
• Copic markers:
  skin – E50, E00, E21, E11, E04
  hair – YR21, E97, YR09, R39
  tail – YG25, FYG2, G09
  bikini top – YR21, E97
  starfish – YR21, E97, YR09, YG25 (eyes)
  fish – YR21, E97, YR09, YG25, FYG2
  seaweed – YG25, FYG2, G09
  sea bed – E33, E55, Y26
  water – BG34, BG13, BG45
• embossing powder:
  Wow! – superfine – clear gloss
• embellishments:
  Pretty Pink Posh – sequins – 4mm – sparkling clear
• paper and card:
  Neenah solar white 216gsm
  Glossy card
  Craftwork Cards – pearl – kings blue
  Anita’s white vellum

1. Or I’ll just come up with some ridiculously complicated idea and do that instead. ↩︎