Good evening lovely readers! I've had a super-productive day at my desk today, with meetings, phone calls and admin tasks a-plenty; I love it when I get such a productive start to my week!

Today I have another card for you that uses another of the animal stamps from the 'From Land To Sea' stamp set. This was the card that I originally made for our challenge this week over at The Paper Players, before I remembered the 'clean and simple' part of the brief :-) This card also involves some masking so I'm linking up with Just Add Ink and the colours were inspired by the colour palette over at The Color Throwdown:

I also used last week's sketch over at Mojo Monday - I'm too late to enter this challenge, but have included the sketch for reference. Lots of layers on this one - take a look:

Here's the low-down on today's card:

A Majestic Marlin - The marlin is another 'From Land To Sea' stamp. I wasn't sure I would ever use this stamp as I couldn't visualise it on a card, but after some browsing the internet for inspiration I decided that an abstract effect with the marlin front and centre was the way to go. I stamped him on Whisper White in Archival Basic Black and again onto a post-it note. I cut the second one out and used it as a mask to cover the one on my card base, whilst I sponged in the sea behind, graduating the colour to emulate light shining through the water from above. I also added some Gorgeous Grunge splatters to the bottom of the panel in the same Pacific Point ink I used for the sponging before removing my mask and colouring my marlin with my So Saffron and Night of Navy markers, leaving the bottom portion a crisp white.

Neutrals Designer Series Paper - I love the scripted pattern that is one of the four designs in each of the Stampin' Up! 12" x 12" colour collection stacks, however I'm never quite sure how to use it on a card. Whilst you can only see a little of the paper on my card, it's enough to add interest without detracting from my focal image. It also allows me to leave my card sentiment-free on the front at least - very handy! - and co-ordinates well with the corrugated card and embossed fish in the background.

I Spy Sea Street - To complete my card, I called on an old favourite, Sea Street, and stamped two shoals of fish on opposing corners of my card base mat and heat embossed them in silver. They remind me of the shoals of fish that marlins are often photographed pursuing in the open sea and add a little texture and shimmer to the finished card.I also carried this element of the design over onto the inside of my card:

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

You can see all of my 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

That's all from me today - back tomorrow with a lovely clean and simple card for you, so be sure to pop by! Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

From Land To Sea Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Basic Black Archival Stampin’ Pad	Sponge Daubers	Blender Pens	Whisper White A4 Cardstock
Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad	Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder	Heat Tool (Uk)	Kraft 12" X 12" Cardstock
Kraft And White Corrugated Paper	Pacific Point Classic Stampin' Pad	Pacific Point A4 Cardstock	Neutrals Designer Series Paper Stack	Gorgeous Grunge Clear-Mount Stamp Set
Sea Street Clear-Mount Stamp Set	White Stampin' Chalk Marker	Night Of Navy Classic Stampin' Pad	So Saffron Classic Stampin' Pad

It's Sunday and time for a new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of my good friend LeAnne to host our challenge this week and she has a fun clean-and-simple theme for you to play along with:

For my card this week I wanted to use my 'From Land To Sea' stamp set. I bought this set for the turtle - I love turtles! - but to date have only used the lighthouse stamp, so this week's challenge gave me the opportunity to change that. The ladies over at Less is More have a one layer challenge with the theme 'At Sea' so I'm linking my card with them too, along with the challenge over at Just Add Ink where the theme is 'masking'. I've a new product 'sneak peek' for you today as well! Without further ado, here is my card:

This isn't the first card I made for this week's challenge: I remembered 'wild animal' but forgot 'clean and simple' on my original card, so I will share that one with you later. As far as this card goes though, I just love it! Here's the low-down on how I created my card:

Sea-faring Turtle - Turtles are the one species of sea creature that has always captivated me. I have spent many hours BC (before children!) scuba diving in the warm waters of the Caribbean and nothing ever thrilled me more than to come across a turtle in its natural habitat. They really are so graceful and fascinating to observe. I stamped my turtle in Archival Black ink, once directly onto my extra-thick Whisper White card base, and again onto a post-it note. I cut the second one out and used it as a mask to cover the one on my card base, whilst I sponged in the sea behind. 

Swirly Scribbles Stencil - Secondly, the 'sneak peek'! I made a stencil with the wavy die in the new Swirly Scribbles Thinlits set from the forthcoming new annual catalogue by cutting one and then placing across a masked rectangle behind my turtle. With my turtle masked, I sponged through the stencil with Pool Party, Bermuda Bay and Island Indigo inks to create the seascape and then removed both the stencil and turtle mask and coloured my turtle with inks and a blender pen.

A Teeny Tiny Sentiment - To finish my card, I added a sentiment from the Teeny Tiny Sentiments set. This stamp set has a great variety of sentiments for each and every occasion that are suitably small and work perfectly with this layout. I chose my sentiment with the recipient of my card in mind; we haven't had a diving holiday with our good friends Cathy and Andy in such a long time, so this card is perfect to send to them to remind them that one day we will all dive together again!

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

You can see all of my 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

Before you reach for your ink and papers, check out what our amazing team has created to inspire you this week:

I look forward to seeing your wild animal CAS creations this week. We have double basketball today: training this morning them both James Juniors are playing at a tournament this afternoon - on opposing teams! One is playing for school and the other for club, so that should be interesting!!

Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

From Land To Sea Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Teeny Tiny Sentiments Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Basic Black Archival Stampin’ Pad	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock	Sponge Daubers
Pool Party Classic Stampin' Pad	Bermuda Bay Classic Stampin' Pad	Island Indigo Classic Stampin' Pad	Delightful Dijion Classic Stampin' Pad	Cajun Craze Classic Stampin' Pad
Chocolate Chip Classic Stampin' Pad	Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad	Sahara Sand Classic Stampin' Pad	Blender Pens

I'm popping in with an extra post today to make up for my lack of one yesterday; my card was all ready, however by the time I returned from the swimming gala that the James Juniors were attending yesterday evening, I was truly good for nothing! This card is made with this week's CAS(E) This Sketch and the challenge over at CASology in mind:

I took a rather less obvious approach to the cue word 'distress' and instead of focusing on a technique went with the emotion - here's my card:

I went with a lighthouse - the beacon of safety for mariners in distress - from the 'From Land to Sea' stamp set as the focal image for my card and paired it with the sentiment from 'Best Thoughts', which seemed appropriate. I masked off a section of my card using post-it notes and using a sponge dauber and So Saffron ink, sponged in some light shining from the windows of the lighthouse too. I kept my card fairly monochromatic, apart from a splash of red on the lighthouse and a thin strip of retired patterned paper down the left side, and the beam of light. Some black and white baker's twine finishes my card.

Here's today's visual summary for easy reference:

That's all from me this evening; back tomorrow with another project. until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

From Land To Sea Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Best Thoughts Wood-Mount Stamp Set	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock	Real Red Stampin' Write Marker
So Saffron Classic Stampin' Pad	Sponge Daubers	Basic Black Baker's Twine