Best Fishes

I was generously offered a Guest Design Team spot for the month of July with Scrap our Stash. The July challenge theme is Brads & Eyelets. Ever have too many of those lying around?

My first thought for the July challenge using eyelets and brads as center of flowers, adding a few in a row to add extra bling, adding them to ribbon. But none of those made me excited and I wanted to do something special for Scrap Our Stash. So here I was going "Think Think Think" like Pooh bear. So while crafting on a different project, which included cutting out a cloud, I had my a-ha moment. Clouds are like "thought bubbles," which require little bubbles, but little bubbles remind me of "air bubbles," which led to fishies swimming. Totally logical, right? ;) 


Stamps: Mega Mixed Messages (Papertrey Ink)
Paper: Paper Basics Card Stock - Kraft (Papertrey Ink), Dotted Swiss (Bazzill Basics Paper), Basic Card Stock - Cream (Recollections)
Ink: Perfect Match Pigment Ink - Terracotta (Papertrey Ink), Brilliance - Pearlescent Sky Blue (Tsukineko), Brilliance - Pearlescent Ice Blue (Tsukineko)
Embellishments: Emboss A2 - D'Vine Swirls (Provo Craft), Black - Art No. 88/41 (Stabilo), Softcore Colored Pencils - PC924 Crimson Red, PC1002 Yellowed Orange (Prismacolor), Heidi Grace Ribbon (Fiskars), Eyelets - Royal Blue (Making Memories)

Here are a couple of fun, planned elements to the card:

• Embossed the kraft card stock and inked the raised parts with a stamp pad (a technique I spied off on the very talented blog of Claire from Waltzingmouse Stamps) to create water and waves
• Used wavy ribbon to represent water waves, which also breaks the area of embossed and non-embossed card stock up well.
• Used Swiss Dots Bazzill paper since "bubbles and dots" where kind of a theme.
• Use your existing sentiments to make a better & punnier one. If you recognized the font or sentiment, you are probably thinking Papertrey Ink's Mega Mixed Messages. But  if you don't recall a "Best Fishes" sentiments in the set, I say "Look otherwise!" *wink wink* "Father" and "Wishes" in "Best Wishes" are of the same font type and same font size. So yep, through masking and careful placement of the stamp, one can create a new sentiment. Tada! This does not always work, but always look for opportunities. Remember this card? I isolated the "N" from a sentiment that ends with an "N" (e.g. "Good Man" or "Have Fun") to write out "Well Done 'N Good Luck." Gotta get as much mileage out of your stamps, right?

And then there are the usual unplanned mistakes and how-to "recover" hacks:

• Used a Crop-A-Dile to punch out the holes and fasten the eyelets. Does anyone ever remember there is a guard? Duh. I had already glued down Mr. Fishy and the holes to punch out the air bubbles were absolutely no where near Mr. Fishy.  Oops. So i had to relocate Mr. Fishy a little more to the left. Good thing when I adhere I don't push and attach everything down, until everything is placed where I want it.
• Mr. Fishy was drawn as a sketch on the scrap piece in an inked pen (my pencil was hijacked!), only he was too large. Oops. No big deal, turn the card stock around and start again ;) My Recycling 101, #1 Rule: if there is an "Oops", use the other side ;)
• So, remember the Frugal Friday tip? My third "Oops" and "I should have practiced." Sometimes concepts are just better in theory and need to be tested out first. The "F" was placed significantly lower, and it was not recoverable. Which brings me to my My Recycling, Rule #2: Cover up. So, now you can guess why there is a sentiment matted onto Swiss Dotted Bazzill paper. Shhh - don't tell anyone, it'll be our secret, yes?
• After (to my absolute relief) of kinda nailing my punny sentiment, I realized it stamped the sentiment crooked but cut out the card stock straight. Duh. Sigh. Groan. I was planning on aligning the matted sentiment parallel to the edge of the card, but it was so obviously crooked. So, if you tilt the sentiment in the direction it was crookedly stamped (in my case, i stamped it slanting upward and I tilted the whole matted sentiment upward), it's less noticeable. So you'll keep that secret, too, right?

Hope some of these hacks were helpful. Do you have other creative brad and eyelet uses? If so, bring 'em on before July 31st.  A guest design spot is at stake, and let me tell you I had a ball with these ladies. Thanks, Srap Our Stash, for a chance to play with ya'll and be a July Guest Designer.