I is for Ink Blending

Animals, Doodlebug, Everyday, My Favorite Things (MFT), Ocassions, Seasons, Summer

Hello friends and happy August!  Hope you’ve been having a good start to your month so far.  I thought it was supposed to be the “lazy days of Summer”, but it sure isn’t feeling that way lately! LOL Now it seems like we’re getting ready for “back to school” time!  Where is this year going?!

Just wanted to share a new challenge up today over at the Alphabet Challenge Blog!  Our next letter is “I” and the hostess has chosen “I is for Ink Blending”   *Please remember that this is a bi-weekly challenge, so you have two weeks to enter.*  I hope you’ll join in the fun with us.  Here’s the project I’ve made for this challenge:

I sure love to do some ink blending!  I love doing the dark to light with a watermark effect especially for ocean scenes.  So I started with a regular blend of blue ink colors starting light at the top and then working my way down to darker blues.  I think the colors used were Tumbled Glass, Salty Ocean, Blueprint Sketch and Blue Saphire Distress Oxide inks.  I then added the “Ray of Light” stencil (MFT store closed) over and ink blended with the same colors.  It was then spritzed with water and dabbed with paper towel for the bubbly look.

BEFORE I started any ink blending at all, I had an “Under the Sea” border die cut (MFT store closed) that I used to create a mask with labeling tape so that I could leave the border at the bottom for sand.  After the ink blending was finished, I ink blended some Antique Linen and Frayed Burlap Oxide inks to create the sand.  I didn’t worry about it getting into the blue area because the colors are much lighter in tone.  After ink blending was done, I cut the panel out with a “Wavy Pierced Rectangle dies” From Whimsy Stamps.

For the rest of the scene, I pulled out these cute ocean critters from Doodlebug called “Sea Life” (purchased from Scrapbook.com) that I stamped, colored with Copics and then fussy cut.  Even though I had the coordinating dies (no longer available), I didn’t want the white border to distract from the ocean scene.  It did come with an extra “seaweed” die in the set that I just cut out in white cardstock and then ink blended some green colors over it to add to the scene.  I also used a white gel pen for highlights and dots in the sand along with a brown marker and glitter gel pen for more details to the sand.

Here’s a closer view of some of the details. I tried tilting it slightly, but it’s hard to capture the sparkle from the sand with the glitter gel pen.

I know this looks really similar to my last post with the mermaid AJ page, but I think I was having some fun with these underwater projects, and I just sat and had a playing session with it.  I do hope you’ve enjoyed my card today and will join us in the challenge for some ink blending fun too!

Thanks so much for dropping by today! Have a great weekend!

Challenges:

  1. Four Season – Anything Goes Summer
  2. Critter Crazy – #101 Anything Goes with Featured Critter
  3. Pearly Sparkles – #110 Under the Sea
  4. Sweet Stampin’ – Use a Stencil + stamping
  5. Try it On Tuesday – Summer
  6. Cardz for Galz – #256 Create a Scene
  7. Crafty Animals – #97 Anything Goes with Animal(s)
  8. Allsorts – #829 Animals/Anything Goes (various products mentioned and linked throughout the post)
Published

29 thoughts on “I is for Ink Blending”

  1. Fabulous underwater scene Vicki! Your ink blending is fabulous, like those rays of light, cute fish and the sand looks real! Excited that you joined us at All sorts challenge! Take care.

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  2. Hey there my friend! WOW this is awesome! Look at you go with this clever ink blending … looks amazing! What a fun underwater scene! Well done (no surprise there!). Thanks so much for joining in the fun at our Four Seasons challenge!  Good Luck and we hope you’ll come back often. 

    DarleneFour Seasons Co-Owner

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  4. Wonderful underwater scene with beautiful ink blending, light effect and sea creatures Meg xx

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  6. WOW! what a great card- loves the fishes and the ink blending is absolutely great – from the ocean to the sand. Happy you share with us. Have a great weekend.

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  8. This is such a pretty card- love the backdrop with the stenciling, and great accents to the critters making this look so 3D! You never disappoint!

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  13. What a fabulous underwater fish scene. You did such a fabulous job creating all the little fish, and the colors are fun and cheerful. This is a fantastic Summer card. Thanks so much for sharing with us at The Four Seasons, and please be sure to visit us again soon.

    For another FUN challenge, come play along at http://www.wordartwednesday.blogspot.com

    Blessings,

    Karen Letchworth

    Owner, Word Art Wednesday Challenge Blog

    Design Team Member, The Four Seasons

    http://www.karen-mycuprunnethover.blogspot.com

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  14. Fabulous ink blending Vicki, and I love the light rays and little fish and crab, the sandy bottom and plants, such a fabulous fun and gorgeous scene..

    luv CHRISSYxx

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  18. Your underwater scene is absolutely enchanting! The way you transitioned from light to deep blues creates such a serene ocean depth, and those rays of light add a magical touch. I love how you masked the sandy bottom and brought it to life with texture and sparkle—so clever and beautifully executed. The sea critters are adorable and perfectly placed, and your attention to detail with the gel pen accents really elevates the whole design. This card feels like a joyful dive into summer creativity!

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  19. I’d love to go snorkeling in a place a pretty as your card Vicky. Those fish are adorable. I like the crab too. He’s happy, not crabby. And I like the sun rays coming in. Great work-thanks for linking up to Try It on Tuesday. and I know what you mean. August is flying. Has the hot weather returned to your area? It’s supposed to hit us tomorrow, which I’m not exactly looking forward to. Have a super weekend. hugs-Erika

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  20. Such great ink blending for this fun underwater scene and loving all these cute critters! The card turned out so beautifully!

    It really does feel like summer is coming to an end even though the calendar doesn’t say so. There are already some acorns falling from our backyard oak tree (although I’m sure the squirrels have something to do with that!!) but to me it makes it feel like the start of fall. And with school already starting this week it really doesn’t make it feel like the lazy days of summer. At least my flowers are still blooming nicely for the most part 🙂

    Thanks so much for joining us at Allsorts and the Four Seasons challenges!

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  21. Hi Vicki this is fantastic, colourful and fun I absolutely love it the colours are so vibrant, excellent card

    hugs

    lorraine x

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  23. That is one adorable underwater scene! Love how you stenciled the background and made your elements. Hope you are managing to stay dry and cool. xoxo

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  25. This is so lovely. Your creatures look like they are so happy. Thanks for taking the time to join my theme over at Cardz4galz. Love Dawn x

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  26. Sensational ink blending on this fabulous underwater scene, Vicki!! I LOVE this wonderful card with it’s light rays and delightful sea creatures!!

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  27. Wow, what an amazing underwater scene! I love the sunshine that you stencilled through the water and all those vibrant colours – perfect 😊. I hope you are having a wonderful summer and thanks so much for joining in the fun at Try it on Tuesday! Hugs, Jo x

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  29. So lovely to see your creation pop up at Sweet Stampin’ Vicki! Hope you’re well and life is wonderful. Have missed your beautiful crafty makes. So lovely to see your post. Hugs, Wends xoxo

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