April 2020 - Joyful Stars Blog Hop and April Stamp of the Month - O-fish-ally Awesome!

Welcome back to the Joyful Stars Blog Hop! If you've just joined me from the talented Debi's blog,  thank you for continuing on to join me here! What a crazy time we're in, right?  I don't know about you, but I sometimes find myself paralyzed in this surreal situation.  I'm fortunate in that I can still work and can work from home without issue.  In fact I've been working so much lately, including all through last weekend (going through a data conversion mock run), it's starting to feel like Ground Hog's Day!  Although I've been working a great deal, it does help the days pass a little quicker.  My son is staying with us for the time being, and he is quick to sense my moods and pull me out of the depth.  I'm truly lucky to have him!  And a great deal of praying never hurts either, especially for those who are sick and who are putting themselves in harm's way every single day. 😉

And now let's get to why you're here - paper crafting!  What another great way to pass the time to do something we love to do or at least appreciate the art!  A few months ago, I made my upline and my son a birthday card using an older retired set that included fish images.  So when I saw the April Stamp of the Month, O-fish-ally Awesome, the first thing that came to mind was to do a similar card to the ones I made in December.  What I particularly liked was the sentiment, "Just Keep Swimming".  It's something I say often to remind myself to just take one step at a time and not let myself feel too overwhelmed.  This is the perfect time to send a card to your family and friends to do just that!

The nice thing about this card is it uses minimal supplies.  Although there is a good deal of coloring and fussy cutting (I just had to use the bulk of those cute images), being stuck at home has its advantages, like being able to take the time to color and cut.  All images were stamped simultaneously in Intense Black ink using a stamp positioner, colored with Spectrum Noir TriBlend markers, then restamped with Black Pigment ink and embossed with Range Clear Super Fine embossing powder.  For the background, I used blue painters tape to section off the center portion of a White Daisy card base, then sponged both Lagoon and Sapphire inks directly onto the card.  After cutting the images I colored, I attached them to the card base, popping up some of them with 3-D Foam tape.  The "thinking of you" sentiment came from the Floral Borders stamp set and was stamped in VersaMark ink and embossed with Ranger White Super Fine embossing powder.  Finally, I finished up the card by using Liquid Glass to create some bubbles for all of the fish.

The picture above does not do the card justice, but you can get a clearer sense of what the overall card looks like in the photo below.  Thanks for visiting, and please don't stop here - go check out the beautiful work on Nancy's blog!