Mermaid Triptych

Good Morning everyone

I have 2 posts going live today both very different so do pop back again later...or hop over here

Its the first Friday of the month so time for a new challenge over at Creative Artiste where the theme is always anything goes MIXED MEDIA, so using at least 3 different mediums, but the more the better.

Ive gone for something a little different this month and made a triptych home decor scene using these funky mermaids and fish from Funky Fossil and some fabulous printed acetate from stamperia for the backgrounds and then added lots of different mediums and textures.

Approx Size overall is 14x7" (35x17cm)

Approx size of each panel is 4x6" (15.5x10.5cm)

See below for how I did the backgrounds. 

 

I stamped the mermaids onto white card and used alcohol markers to colour the skin, hair & facial features.   I then stamped the mermaids and fish onto various scraps of patterned paper in a rainbow of colours and cut out, the pieces for the mermaids outfits I paper pieced onto the base images - thus limiting the colouring in I needed to do and the bonus of using up some very small offcuts of pretty papers....personally I find cutting out therapeutic and colouring in stressful...

I then started arranging the mermaids and fish onto the background panels with glue gel, adding a few shells, sea glass and pebbles collected over the years from Cornish & Breton beaches.

I stamped the sentiments onto white using black ink, cut out and adhering into place to finish

Being an accordion design you can alter the angle and viewing point of the scenes

'Mermaid Kisses & Starfish wishes'

I added white posca pen highlights to the mermaids and fish

'Swim your own way' & 'make some waves'

'Salty Air & Mermaid Hair'

All the mermaids and fish were covered in a coat of glossy mod podge to protect them and this also stiffens them so they stand up better to being handled more.

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and now onto the backgrounds

I could only get 2 tags out of one sheet of A4 so picked a 2nd sheet with similar under tones 

Panels in progress - you can see close ups below.  I die cut them from very thick acetate by stamperia - the dies don't cut all the way through as its so thick but do add a good groove for me to go around with the scissors.

1. add texture paste through stencils - blue for the scales/waves and glitter paste through a bubble/dot stencil

2.  add torn pieces of washi tape and text stickers

3. dry brush soft white acrylic to soften the edges of the texture paste and washi tape

4. over stencil with foliage for seaweed effect with matt green acrylic paint

For Christmas I was given a pack of PET (plastice) stickers with various prints on them, i used a few of the text ones here - see bottom right corner, the white text with circles and a orangey splodge - they work well on this acetate to add details without needing to stamp and they completely blend in.

I picked this washi tape with shades of green and purple to pick up on the colours in the mermaids

Dry brushing matt soft white over the top just softens the blue texture paste and some of the shine in places of the acetate - just adding more interest for the eyes.  I also added some lines with the edge of an old store card and the soft white paint. I used the stencil this way up to kind of give the feel of waves.

Just showing them mounted onto the petrol blue tags, this matches the blue of the metallic texture paste. Originally I planned to just have the acetate panels joined together but felt they needed framing to draw the eye in.

Items Used:

Funky Fossil stamp sets - 'making waves' by zinski art & 'weird fish'

Label dies

scales Stencil

Stencil Bubble/dots & foliage

Stamperia clear prints SBA419 'Alchemy' range

aall&create washi tape (old one)

Stamperia glitter paste 'Arctic Ice' K3P62

Rich relief paste multi Titanium 'antique turquoise' 1505524

Folk art acrylic paints

PET stickers

Im going to have to start writing the name of the stencils on the actual stencil with a sharpie i think as the more i get the more i can't remember the brands/names of them and im not that organised I keep them all in the packaging.  Funky Fossil brand is good as she has her brand embossed into the actual stencil which helps.

 

Hop over to  Creative Artiste to see what the rest of the DT have created and to join in.  Anything mixed media goes so it can be a small little project like an ATC or tag upto a large canvas and everything inbetween - we'd love to see your creations

Id love to enter the following:

https://pixiessnippetsplayground.blogspot.com/2026/04/challenge-531.html - all the papers used are snippets

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https://stencilfun.blogspot.com/2026/04/april-2026-stencil-fun-challenge.html - Ive used dots, foliage & scales stencils

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https://allsortschallenge.blogspot.com/2026/04/challenge-848.html

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https://tolanythingbutacard.blogspot.com/2026/04/the-outlawz-anything-but-card-may.html

 

WLS Sept#1 - Cute

Good Morning everyone

Time for a new challenge over at We Love Stamping where the theme this month is 

CUTE

So right out of my comfort zone , if cute is not for you, you can always go with the anything goes option as long as you use stamping

Looking through my stamps I don't have many that are cute, but found this cute mouse image that a friend had stamped and sent to me which is called Ballerina Mouse by Pink Ink designs.  I thought it would be ok for my niece Charlottes birthday.

6x6" card which I made from acetate.  After colouring the mouse with alcohol markers i went searching for a paper and found this one with rainbow tones which also picked out the pinks, purples and blues in the colouring.  I folded it and adhered inside the acetate card so that is shows through. 

I die cut a frame from teal and white card and added to the front with foam tape, i die cut circles from the same colours and adhered flat in the middle, to this I added the mouse on a 'wobbler' so she dances around.  I then computer printed the sentiments die cut into fishtail banners and added to the front with glue gel.

2 pink glossy hearts added to the sentiments and glitter glue added to the wings to finish.

(After finishing and looking at it a while I realised that if I had thought it through I would have cut the backing paper so the circles were more even on each side.... which I could have done as it was a 12x12 paper but Im sure my niece won't even notice that)

The wobbler gives lots of dimension

Whenever I make an acetate card and added a paper insert, i will always add the frames and such to the front first as i then add the glue behind these to hold the insert in place, therefore no glue shows through the acetate.

Charlotte decided she wanted a recorder for her birthday so we all needed ear plugs! lol 

Items Used:

Pink ink stamp 'ballerina mouse'

Spellbinders and MFT circle dies

Fancy square nesting dies

MFT fishtail banner dies

Alcohol makers

Make & Create Patterned paper (the works)

hunkydory acetate

CraftUk ltd white linen card

Jellybean teal pearl card

Wobbler

Heart gel stickers  

We have this fabulous prize of house mouse stamps this month kindly supplied by oakwood so hop over to We Love Stamping to join in and be in with a chance of winning.  Get as creative as you can with your stamping and have fun.

Thank you all for stopping by once again. Crafty hugs Emmax

 

WLS Aug #2 Flowers - foxgloves

Good Morning everyon

Time with our mid month inspiration for We Love Stamping where the theme is 

FLOWERS

So a nice easy theme this month, but we always have the anything goes option too as long as you use stamping

Ive made a little wall hanging picture using strong printed acetate from Stamperia as the base

A5 size. I first did the background which you can see below with photos.

I then stamped the Pink Ink foxgloves onto white card, watercoloured with derwent inktense penciils and cut out.  I also stamped bee using a stamp set from chocolate baroque and cut out, I did all the stamping using purple ink so its softer than black.

I stamped the sentiment using a paperartsy JFOY cut out and adhered with pinflair glue gel.

From green brusho coloured card I die cut memory box pine foliage border twice, off set and added to the bottom so it looks like the foxgloves are growing out of it. To finish i punched holes and set green eyelets in the top and threaded with green waxed cotton so it can be hung up

The printed acetate has a lovely shine to it and adds a different texture 

I gave the foxgloves and pine border a coat of mod podge to seal them

I first cut the printed acetate to A5 size and rounded the corners with my WRMK corner chomper - I did this so that less chance of injury as its very stiff and corners quite sharp if caught.

I then added torn strips of washi tape here and there - this aall&create tape has similar tones in purples, teal and green.  Then stencilled on foliage in a vintage white matt acrylic paint this helped to break up all the glossy shine from the solid acetate.  I then stencilled on smaller foliage with green and fuchsia dora paint which has a beautiful shimmer to it.  I added some green acrylic paint across the bottom where the foxgloves would be growing out from.  

To finish I edged the whole panel with fuchsia dora paint to frame it 

This is the acetate before use  - clear prints from Stamperia range 'Sleeping Beauty'

Items Used

Stamperia 'Clear prints' 'Sleeping beauty' SBA410

Pink Ink Designs stamp set 'flourishing foxglove'

Paperartsy JOFY stamp set 'jofy14'

Chocolate baroque stamps 'honey bee'

Memory box die - pine edge (very old)

Foliage stencils

Plaid folkart matt acrylic paints

Cadence dora paint - fuschia, green

Derwent inktense pencils

aall&create washi tape #50

ranger stickles 'twinkle'

versafine clair ink 'Monarch'

Mod podge matt

Our prize this month is a fabulous £25 voucher for Personal Impressions which have lots of fabulous goodies to tempt you with

So do hop over to We Love Stamping to join in and have a chance of winning the prize

Thank you for stopping by once again.  I hope you all have a good week. Emma

Id love to enter the following:

https://www.simplyellibelle.com/2025/08/ellibelles-garden-party-no-6-anything.html

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https://addictedtostamps-challenge.blogspot.com/2025/08/addicted-to-stamps-and-more-challenge.html

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https://stencilfun.blogspot.com/2025/08/august-2025-stencil-fun-challenge.html - I have used 2 different foliage/leaf stencils 

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https://beautifulblossomschallenge.blogspot.com/2025/08/beautiful-blossoms-challenge-anything.html

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https://dd-tripleb.blogspot.com/2025/08/august-2025-challenge.html

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https://paper-rocks-scissors.blogspot.com/2025/08/august-7-challenge.html  - used scissors to cut out the foxgloves and bees

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https://www.stampingsensations.uk/2025/08/august-challenge.html - bees

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https://allsortschallenge.blogspot.com/2025/08/challenge-830.html - beginning with B - Blooms & Bees 

 

Butterfly suncatcher

Good Morning everyone

Its the first Friday of the month, so time for a new challenge over at Creative Artist Mixed Media challenge where the theme is always anything goes as long as you mix your medias

Ive had these empty mini perfume bottles for years, with the idea of using them for a project so the time had come to have a go......Ive made a butterfly suncatcher out of printed acetate & alcohol inks and used the mini perfume bottle for its body.

Approx size 6x6" (15x15cm)  I used a lovely printed acetate by stamperia which is really thick & strong.  I made a butterfly template from paper, drew around it with alcohol marker onto the acetate and cut out....removing any access pen marks with blending solution.

I then coloured the back of the acetate with Ranger tim holtz alcohol inks using a rainbow of colours.   Once dry I used a alcohol marker blender pen to remove some of the colour from some of the patterned areas which I then coloured with contrasting colour alcohol marker....this helps the pattern stand out a bit more and makes it more interesting to look at than block colour.

I added chuncky gold glitter paste around the outside edge of the wings - this really is glittery when the light hits it.

I filled the perfume bottle up with mini gold tube beads, wrapped with a little gold craft wire, adding a loop to the back to hang it up from.  I then adhered the bottle to the wings with some pinflair glue gel which I know lasts well in a hot sunny window so won't fall apart as the little glass bottle is quite heavy in weight.  To finish I added lime green cabochon gems to the top and bottom wings

You can see the colours better here.  What with the glitter paste, gems and gold beads the light really dances around and sparkles.

Not the best photo but this is showing it in a window with the light coming through.  With the weight of the bottle it hangs forwards a bit which actually looks like a butterfly in flight

Showing the first stage of colour with the alcohol inks

and the little bottle

Items Used:

Stamperia 'clear print' acetate 'sleeping beauty' range SBA410

Ranger Tim Holtz alcohol inks

Promarkers

Cosmic shimmer Ultra sparkle texture paste 'sahara gold'

gold tube beads

Gold soft craft wire

Mini glass bottle

Hop over to Creative Artiste Mixed Media to join in with your anything mixed media projects - cards, atc's, Journals all welcome as well as assemblage pieces - as long as you use at least 3 different medias.

Thank you all for stopping by once again.  I hope you have a wonderful weekend. Emmax

Id love to enter the following:

https://www.simplyellibelle.com/2025/04/ellibelles-garden-party-no-2-anything.html - #2

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https://creativecraftinguncles.blogspot.com/2025/04/64-anything-but-card.html

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https://lovetocraftchallengeblog.blogspot.com/2025/05/ltccb-86-anything-goes-ltccb-85-winner.html

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https://paper-rocks-scissors.blogspot.com/2025/05/may-4-challenge.html - I used scissors to cut out the butterfly from acetate