Simon Says Nautical

Happy Monday, my crafting friends! Our challenge for you this week is NAUTICAL at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge. 

Don't forget our Summer Vacation Kids Challenge this month!

I thought of the ocean when I saw Nautical and headed to my big art journal. I was thinking about the deep ocean and the creatures that live there, that we sometimes find kind of scary. I wanted to make the bottom in dark colors to reflect that, while making it bright and happy closer to the surface.

"Who knows what lurks in the depths?"

I used the same colors to paint my backgrounds, both on the watercolor paper and in the journal. I stenciled in some texture by removing some of the paint with a baby wipe. 

I remembered this great fish fossil stencil and thought it would make a great border, as well as incorporating it into my piece. (Perhaps I remembered it because my son and I had a fossil hunting adventure yesterday...) I mixed the Inky Pool paint and the Texture Paste together to get the dark blue.

Time to pull out the MISTI to get great stamped images.

I used Dina Wakley's Scribble Sticks to color. I wanted my deep sea creatures in dark (and kind of ugly) colors.

Time for some fussy cutting...and the octopus was a challenge! 

Laying the papers together...

I added the deep sea creatures with 3D Matte Gel to hold the heavy watercolor paper onto the background. 

Then I added the bright surface mermaid and critters and added some sparkle.

Life can be very different on the ocean's surface than in its depths, I imagine!

I hope you've enjoyed my Nautical take on this week's challenge and are ready to join us in the fun! 

Simon Says Stamp has a $50 gift voucher to share with one of you!

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A great place to shop!!

Simon is on Instagram, use #sssmchallenge.

Let's head on over to the challenge to see how the rest of the team has interpreted this week's challenge!