Trenouths Crafty Creations: weird fish

Showing posts with label weird fish. Show all posts

Friday, 1 May 2026

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

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

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

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

Saturday, 18 January 2025

WLS Jan#2 - Trio of mermaids

Good Morning everyone

Time for more inspiration for We Love Stamping where the theme this month is

ANYTHING BUT SQUARE - so any other shaped card

or you can always use the anything goes theme as long as stamping is involved.

After all the Christmas and many Dec & Jan birthdays i craft for, I take time out to give my craft stash an annual tidy up ready to start the next crafty year. I have a drawer where i put things left over from projects and that is where i found these mermaids, fish and die cuts so i decided I would use them all together.

Card size approx 7x4.5" I took 2 of the white die cut shapes, scored a spine on one and adhered it to the back of the other one, thus making my shaped card base. I then covered the front with sea themed patterned paper. I die cut a smaller frame from white card and added to the front with foam tape. I then arranged the mermaid and fish, adhered some flat and some with glue gel for dimension. Sentiments stamped onto white, cut out and added.

The Mermaids and fish had all been previously stamped onto white and watercoloured with inktense pencils, cut out and glossy accents added to the eyes. I then added a touch of diamond stickles here and there for a little sparkle.

This shows the dimension better and you can see how it stands up.

Version 2 made the same way

and Version 3

These images are such fun, a great way to brighten up a grey winters day

Items Used:

Funky Fossil stamps

Spellbinders grand labels 4 dies (very old!)

12x12 paper pad from the works

Derwent inkense pencils

Rangers stickles 'diamond'

Glossy accents

Do hop over to We Love Stamping to join in with your anything but square projects or you can just go with the anything goes theme, as long as stamping is involved.

You could win these lovely prizes from aall&create if you join in.

Thank you all for stopping by once again. Emma

Id love to enter card #1 in the following

https://fabnfunkychallenges.blogspot.com/2025/01/challenge-608-all-things-bright-and.html

https://addictedtostamps-challenge.blogspot.com/2025/01/challenge-484.html

https://2sistersontheblog.blogspot.com/2025/01/challenge-93.html

https://www.stampingsensations.uk/2025/01/january.html - handcoloured image - i coloured mine with inktense pencils

https://creativeknockouts.blogspot.com/2025/01/539-something-to-say-polkadoodles.html

https://cinspirations.blogspot.com/2025/01/january-challenge-something.html - something old - the stamps, dies, papers are all years old

Monday, 15 January 2024

Elizabeth is 10

Good Morning everyone

My niece Elizabeth was 10 in December, she decided in the summer she no longer wanted to be called Lizzy so we are all trying hard to call her Elizabeth - easier said than done as they called her Lizzy as a baby. Anyway she is a very quirky soul so these fab stamps from funky fossil are ideal for her

Card size approx 7x7" I first stamped the weird fish and mermaid stamps onto white and watercoloured with derwent inktense pencils and cut them out. I made my base card using dies and white card, matted on a layer of patterned paper, i adhered some of the fish to the paper, i then added 2mm foam tape a white frame with acetate attached to it which i had used glitter paste through a circle stencil to give the look of bubbles. I then added another layer of 2mm foam tape and a white frame for the top layer.

Then i arranged the rest of the fish and my mermaids, adhered with glue gel onto the acetate layer. Sentiments are from the same stamp sets to finish.

Using the different layers and sandwiching acetate in the middle allowed me to give the effect of them swimming around in water

and the insert, using up the left over fish

Items Used:

Funky fossil designs - stamps 'weird fish' & 'making waves'

XL nested shape dies

Patterned paper - from the works 'feeling fresh'

circle stencil

Stamperia 'artic ice' texture paste

acetate

Derwent inktense pencils

Id love to enter the following with this card

https://craftycalendarchallenge.blogspot.com/2024/01/january-2024-challenge-crafty-calendar.html

https://creativefriday.blogspot.com/2024/01/creative-friday-350-alles-geht.html

https://cardsgalorechallenges.blogspot.com/2024/01/january-2024-crafts-galore-encore.html

https://lovetocraftchallengeblog.blogspot.com/2024/01/ltccb-78-anything-goes-ltccb-77-winner.html

https://thecraftingchallenge.blogspot.com/2024/01/like-in-fairy-tales-come-nelle-favole.html - mermaids from fairytales

https://lilpatchofcraftyfriends.blogspot.com/2024/01/221-streamside-studios.html

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and onto card 2 which is as wacky & bonkers as Elizabeth is! I made a pull up accordion fold card using collage doll images from ZinskiArt on etsy - this is definitely a card that wouldn't suit most but thats the great thing about making a personalised card, we can do it to suit the persons character.

Showing closed up

Using pinterest i built up my accordion base from white cardstock making sure my panels were big enough for the images i wanted to use. I then matted a soft marble paper onto the panels and then built up the characters by sticking one body part to each section. Computer printed sentiment which i added to the top panels.

I die cut 6 large butterflies from white card and rainbow mirror card, attached them back to back with ribbon sandwiched between them and added these to the middle of the accordion - they can be removed and hung up as a decoration. I die cut mini butterflies from the mirror card scraps and adhered to the panels flying around the characters.

I added glitter glue and glossy accent highlights to finish

I used digital collage images from ElenaZinskiArt on Etsy and funnily the mermaids on the first card are by Elena Zinski but a clear stamp version for funky fossil designs - i can't help but smile are her non cute characters.

Thank you all for stopping by and all your amazing comments last week. I hope this is a good week for you. Emmax

Monday, 28 August 2023

Mermaid shutter cards

Good Morning everyone

Today im sharing 2 mermaid shutter cards. I was given this fab quirky mermaid stamps by funky fossil stamps and decided to team them up with my funky fossil weird fish stamps.

I used my tattered lace A4 shutter card die set for the base and die cut panels from sea themed paper. I stamped the mermaids and fish, coloured them with alcohol markers, added glossy accents to the eyes and cut them out. I then got arranging them on the base with pinflair glue gel. Stamped the sentiments from the mermaid set, cut them up, inked the edges and added.

I took the starfish printed paper and overstamped it with the puns from the stamp set with a green/blue ink. I stenciled areas with a glossy medium and scales stencil to add more interest to the background.

You can just make out the glossy stencilling behind the starfish here, when the light hits it, it is really shiny.

and the back of the card, another paper from the water themed pad from the works called 'fresh feelings' I added a white panel to the middle to write the greeting on.

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Version 2