My Koi Pond v2.0

There's something so Zen about Koi ponds and I'm feeling kind of mellow, so I decided to create another Koi pond card using SCACD's Customize Your Koi Pond rubber stamp set. The great thing about this set is that it has three different Koi and three different lily pads so that you truly CAN customize your own Koi Ponds!

I felt like using my Copics because they were feeling neglected, so I stamped the small and medium sized lily pads using Bamboo Leaves and Cottage Ivy Memento inks onto Neenah cardstock. I also stamped the lily pads onto Post-It notes, fussy-cut them, and then adhered the masks over their counterparts.

The two large Koi were stamped with Tangelo Memento ink. I had kept the masks from my last pond, so I adhered the masks to the large Koi. Using a stamp positioner, the medium sized Koi were stamped next with Rusty Hinge Distress ink. The medium sized Koi were also stamped onto a *Post-It note pad, fussy-cut, and these masks were placed. The smallest sized Koi were stamped using Dried Marigold Distress ink, again using a stamp positioner for placement. *Post-It note masks were also stamped, fussy-cut, and placed.

With the stamping complete, the masks were kept in place and a background was airbrushed using B and BG Copic markers and my Copic airbrush system. When I was happy with the coverage, the masks were lifted and all the fish and lily pads were colored with Copic markers. This actually took some thinking, oh my poor brain, so that the fish would appear to be swimming in different depths in the pond. The smallest Koi were the dullest in color so they'd be the deepest swimmers. The middle fish were above them, and the largest Koi were closest to the surface, but under the lily pads. I hope I achieved that effect with coloring and shading! When all the coloring was done, the masks were placed over the lily pads and the scene was airbrushed again with B and BG Copic marker. The masks were removed, and the Koi Pond was set aside.

Mottled gray textured cardstock was die-cut (unevenly) with two Grand Labels 11 Nestabilities on my new (and fabulous) Magnetic Platform. Chalk pencil was used to create the look of stone pavers. The excess chalk was brushed across the frame to make the stone look a bit more weathered. Black Soot Distress marker was used to add more depth and detail.

The Koi Pond was diecut using the larger Grand Labels 11 Nestabilities and adhered to a plain green card. This was then outlined using the Black Soot Distress marker. The stone frame was adhered in place and some seriously very old Rain Dot clear epoxy splashes were added to finish the card.

*A tip for creating Post-It Note masks: When you need multiple masks of the same image, stamp the image up near the top of the pad where the adhesive is, then pull of as many notes as you need, being sure to keep them adhered to one another. Then you only need to fussy-cut once, but will end up with many masks. I've been able to cut up to five notes at a time!

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