Steampunk Valentine's Day Card

  Greetings! I have wonderful news! I'm chuffed an d ever-so-excited that Funky Fossil Designs has asked me to join their Design Team. They have amazing stamps, stencils, dies, paper, mdf, and mixed media. You should most pop over to their website and take a look around. I will be posting projects weekly using their fabulous products.

Here's my first card, which is for Valentine's Day and was created with the Steampunk Aquatica and Steampunk Sea-Fari Clear Stamp Sets that were designed by the wonderful Belinda Basson!

Products Used:

Steampunk Aquatica Clear Stamp Set by Belinda Basson for  Funky Fossil Designs

Steampunk Sea-Fari Clear Stamp Set by Belinda Basson for  Funky Fossil Designs

Tuxedo Black Memento and Desert Sand Inks by Imagine Crafts/Tsukineko

Nocturne VersaFine Clair ink by Imagine Crafts/Tsukineko

Broken China, Salvaged Patina, and Peeled Paint Distress Ink by Tim Holtz for Ranger Ink

Solar White Classic Crest Cardstock by Neenah Papers

Red and Black Cardstock by Bazzill Basics

Copic Markers:
Octopus: Y28, Y26, Y23, Y21, Y11, N6, N6, N4, T3, T1

Octopus' Top Hat: N6, N5, N4, R56, R35, R24

Hearts: C4, C3, C2, C1, C0

Plants (which could also be coral): YG67, YG63, G85

Repositionable Sticker Paper by Avery

STAY-tion by Wendy Vecchi for Ranger Ink

Low–tack Tape

Anti-Static Tool

Detail Clear Embossing Powder by Stampendous

Glassboard by Glassboard Studio

Stamping Platform

Instructions:

1. Create a 5" x 7" card from black cardstock. Set aside.
2. Secure a 5.25 x 7.25" piece of white cardstock on a stamping platform.
3. Use Tuxedo Black Memento Ink to stamp the Octopus from the Steampunk Aquatica Clear Stamp Set twice — once onto white cardstock and once onto repositionable sticker paper.
4. Fussy-cut the sticker paper version and place it over its counterpart on the image panel.
5. Position the three hearts from the Steampunk Sea-Fari Clear Stamp Set so that they're facedown on the Octopus' tentacles.
6. Use Tuxedo Black Memento Ink to stamp the hearts onto the image panel and again onto small pieces of repositionable sticker paper. 
7. Fussy-cut the sticker paper version of the hearts and place them over their counterparts as masks. 
8. Use a wavy ruler and a craft knife to cut a strip of low-tack tape. 
9. Place the low-tack tape horizontally about 1" from the base of the image panel.
10. Brush Broken China and Salvaged Patina Distress Inks horizontally across the tape and the masked images until the background is covered.
11. Forget to mist with 91% alcohol, meant to mottle the background.
12. Lift the repositionable tape and place the other half of the tape so that it's covering the top of the image panel.
13. Sponge Desert Sand Memento Ink over the tape onto the bottom of the image panel. 
14. Place the image panel back onto the stamping platform.
15. Place the Sea Plant Stamp from the Steampunk Sea-Fari Clear Stamp Set facedown on the bottom part of the image panel.
16. Use Peeled Paint Distress Ink to stamp the plant.
17. Clean and dry the stamp.
18. Repeat Steps 15 - 17 so that there are three Sea Plants on the bottom of the image panel.
19. Remove and retain the Octopus mask and heart masks.
20. Color the images, including the sea plants with Copic markers.
21. Use a T1 marker to add shadows to the sandy sea bottom.
22. Trim the image panel to 4.625" x 6.625".
23. Place the retained masks back over their counterparts on the image panel.
24. Place the image panel back onto the stamping platform.
25. Place the school of fish stamp from the Steampunk Aquatica Clear Stamp Set facedown on the top right of the image panel.
26. Ink the stamp with Nocturne VersaFine Clair Ink and stamp.
27. Clean and dry the stamp.
28. Repeat Steps 25-27 seven times. Be sure to overstamp the masked images and the borders. 
29. Remove the image panel from the stamping platform and heat set the image.
30. Use an anti-static tool to pounce powder all over the image panel.
31. Place the image panel back onto the stamping platform.
32. Position the sentiment facedown on the image panel as shown.
33. Ink the stamp with Nocturne VersaFine Clair Ink and stamp. Re-ink and stamp again if necessary to attain a good impression.
34. Remove the image panel from the stamping platform.
35. Sprinkle clear detail embossing powder of the sentiment.
36. Dump the excess powder back into its container.
37. Heat set the sentiment.
38. Use Nocturne VersaFine Clair Ink to edge the image panel.
39. Cut a piece of red cardstock to 4.75" x 6.75 and use to mat the image panel.
40. Adhere the matted image panel to the reserved black card to finish it!

Thanks for visiting today!