Aloha, all!
Yes, the first stamp set I used out of the box is all about a bottle! In this case, the fun new Stampin' Up! Message in a Bottle Stamp Set.
If you look at the picture of the stamp set at the end of this post, you'll see that there are quite a few things that can be stamped inside this bottle – "I Love You" messages; an octopus; a whale; a ship (my husband's retired Coast Guard, and I dare not call that image a boat!); and, of course, this cute little mermaid. There are sentiments to go with all of these images, along with some fun toppers for the bottle.
But my heart strings were plucked by that cute little mermaid and her delightful smile! So she was it. Then I had to go find some paper to help me decide what my layout would be like. As I went through all my new paper (and, no, I haven't bought it all yet), I stopped dead when I saw the heart design on the Coffee Break Designer Series Paper. Who would have thought I'd find exactly what I wanted in this paper set? I had been thinking I'd make the "water" in the bottle using Pool Party ink. But Soft Sky is one of the colors in this set of papers – and, it happens, on the reverse of the same sheet as the hearts that originally caught my eye. So I decided to use both sides of this sheet of paper, and split the card in half in the landscape direction.
Before I added the layers of paper onto a mat of Early Espresso (another color in the papers), I tied a piece of Soft Sky 3/8" Classic Weave Ribbon around the Designer Series Papers where they met in the middle. Finally, I stamped, colored, and cut out (by hand) the bottle with the little mermaid in it. The colors on the mermaid are Garden Green, Peekaboo Peach, and Pumpkin Pie, all of which I applied using Blender Pens. I penned in her skin lightly, and varied the other colors a bit. Love that red headed mermaid!
The sentiment at the bottom of the card is made up of two sentiments from the stamp set. I set them apart a bit so that I could add a heart shape from the Garden Green Enamel Shapes sheet which is part of the Regals Enamel Shapes set. How nicely that ties in with the design on the paper!
So that's my first project from my big new catalog order. I'm pretty sure that I know which set will be part of my next project, but I won't let the cat out of the bag (no, that's not a hint) until I actually set ink to paper! Meanwhile, here are the main products I featured in today's project. My Stampin' Up! Store is open for business 24/7/365, so be sure to click on a product if you think it's one you might like to have. Or just call or e-mail me to let me know you'd like to order something, and I can do it for you! My e-mail address and phone number are at the top of this page!
