Stamping Sunday Blog Hop – Sea of Textures

Welcome to my blog stamping friends … today I am here with the Stamping Sunday team for our June blog hop hosted by Sara Levin, the Artful Inker. Today we are featuring a new bundle from the brand new Stampin’ Up! 2018-2019 Annual Catalogue, Sea of Textures Stamp Set and Under the Sea Framelits Dies.

Sea of Textures Bundle

I love all the elements of the stamp set and dies, however, I will admit, I was a little hesitant about the Octopus. As it turns out, Mr Octo is so much fun!  I have used him A LOT!

Rad Octopus

Changing up the colours you use for your Octopus gives him a whole different feel.  For my tutorial Octo, I used soft vintage colours, but for this project, I gave my Octopus an edgy feel by stamping him with  Lovely Lipstick and sponging with Memento Tuxedo Black. I think he sort of looks like he is pumping his fist and saying whatever Rad Octopi say!!

Don’t mess with this Octo!

Design Elements

Custom mix colours – This Octopus is stamped in Lovely Lipstick, but once the black sponging is added the colour changes quite dramatically. The Watercolour Pencils didn’t have a co-ordinating colour to suit for his arms, so I have mixed Real Red, Rich Razzleberry and a touch of Basic Black Watercolour Pencils to achieve a similar toning colour to the Octopus body, then blended them together with a Blender Pen. The Basic Black Stampin’ Write Marker is used to colour all the suckers on the Octopus arms … not very realistic, but these little dots pick up the black sponging and the black die cuts.

Introduce a pop of contrast colour – The Pool Party Stitched Circle is a bright and striking contrast for the Octopus against the brighter Lovely Lipstick, Black and Crumb Cake card.

Limit the colour palette – I have used Lovely Lipstick card and ink, Basic Black card and ink, Crumb Cake for the card base and die cut netting, and that pop of Pool Party for the circle. And that’s it. By keeping all the elements to this simple colour palette, the Octopus is the feature. That meant that my coral die cuts are black. Again, not realistic, but it totally adds to the radical, edgy feel of this card.

Using a smaller greeting – When you have such a statement piece for the feature of the card, keep your greeting small and unobtrusive so as not to take anything away from the feature.

It may look similar to my project in the Tutorial Bundle, be rest assure, the tutorial projects are exclusive and you won’t see them anywhere else.  My tutorial project is much softer featuring an undersea collage and a technique video using the Stamparatus.

Stamping Sunday Tutorial Bundle

Five fantastic projects in one tutorial bundle. This month tutorials include a diorama card, a gift box and wonderful card projects, all with full instructions and pictoral instructions (plus a few technique videos).

Make a purchase of $50 with me this month and received the tutorial bundle for free. Or you can purchase outright for AU$12.00.   Email me to purchase, and I will send you a Paypal invoice.

The Stamping Sunday (second Sunday) team have more great ideas for you using this great suite of products. Here is the full list of hop participants … visit them all and be inspired.

If you are in Australia and would like to purchase any of the products used to create this project, click on the thumbnails to go directly to that product in my online store.

Don’t forget to use the monthly rewards code to get an extra little thank you from me at the end of the month.

Thanks and cheers,
Cheryll

Here is a list of products used in this project.
Product List