Having a Whale of a Time

Good morning everyone,
It's Dot here with a fun tutorial for you using the Whale Wishes stamp set.

Using whales seems like a good idea this week because in just over a week's time we have our annual "Bonny Upwelling Festival" in my town.
It marks a natural phenomenon where krill form dense swarms up to a kilometer long, providing a feeding frenzy for whales, seals, giant crabs, squid, fish etc.  And the sea turns the most magnificent shade of blue.  So beautiful.
The festivities include a blessing of the fleet, a street parade, markets, live entertainment and Whale Boat races.  I've raced in many whale boat races over the years, both at this festival and in national championships ... I love being out on the water.

So the whale is special for me this week...

This whale from the Whale Wishes set kind of looks like both the Southern Right Whale and the Blue Whale, the ones in our area.

I started by stamping the whale with Stazon onto some white card. After making a mask, I masked him off and added some bubbles from the set.  I've used the bubbles to ground the whale.

I then painted most of the whale and the bubbles with some masking fluid, leaving some areas of the whale bare.  Let dry, it doesn't take all that long, maybe 5 mins.

The next step was to scrape some DO's onto my well-loved craft sheet and spritz with water.  I've used Iced Spruce, Faded Jeans and Peeled Paint.  You can see that I've used more of the blue than any other colour.  Note to self: get a new craft sheet!

Swipe your card through the ink, following the dirction of the link. This helps to keep the colours separate.  Dry.  Dab again (drying each time), continuing until you like the effects.

After wiping away any ink from the masking fluid, gently wipe away the masking - I always use my finger for this.  You can see where the ink has taken where I hadn't put the masking fluid.  This is just the look I was after.

I then put a little Iced Spruce DO on my craft sheet and 'water-coloured' it onto the whale, colouring some of the markings on him too.

Then all I did to finish him off was to add some extra bubbles in the clear water area, stamp some words from the set and emboss, ink up the edges a little more and mat and layer the card.

Supplies:

Rubber Dance Stamps

Whale Wishes

Others:
Ranger Distress Oxides
Masking Fluid
That's Crafty mini stencils
Embossing powder


I hope you've enjoyed my little tribute to the Bonny Upwelling using the Whale Wishes stamp set.

A quick reminder that the Challenge Theme at the moment is 'Animals' and there is still plenty of time to enter.