A mermaid in watercolour

Hi all, it's Annika here again with a bit of Monday inspiration - well, at least I hope it won't be TOO bad, lol.

This time I am trying my hand with colouring a Carmen Medlin stamp called Siren's Call by SCACD. I have to admit the colouring didn't go as well as I planned - it seemed I wasted most of my steam for the background and scene and then everything about the poor mermaid went a bit wrong. :( But hey, we all have our bad and worse days! ;)

All I used was my watercolours and Sakura white gel pen (that's what I made the most mistakes with, sigh).

The chipboard flourish and dragonflies are by Make it Crafty and the pretty papers are from Prima Moulin Rouge pad.

Just a little tip - if you want to paint in strong background involving layered washes like this one, it really helps if you invest into some art masking fluid and cover the foreground figures with it. You can just boldly colour the scene in then, wait it to dry completely and rub off the masking fluid - no ultramarine washes on you mermaids face! :)

I also wanted to show you some goodness from Whimsy Stamps July release:
I have created a little masculine card set to show you using the Vintage Transportation and Adventure Mini Postage Stamps from new release and various backgrounds from previous relases.

I used Versamark in for stamping and various embossing powders for heat embossing. All the papers were inked with Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain and Aged Mahogany.

I stamped Adventure Mini Postage Stamps straight onto background paper here with brown and red inks.

The crickled and distressed paper here is from the packaging of my glue gun tape rolls, lol.  The background papers are created using Life Defined Background and Music Notes Background (the last I stamped haphazardly without the use of the block.).

The backgound is fabric-covered card I've had for ages and the corrugated stuff is from the top of chocolates in chocolate box.

Thanks for popping by!!! :)

Annika