Saturday, April 06, 2013

A Coral Reef

Hello everyone, I hope you are doing well.    I've managed to get time out in the gardens the last couple of days.  Yesterday it was 4 degrees (Celsius), windy and we even had some light snow flurries, but I hung in with warm clothing.   

I wanted to create a Coral Reef with few 'Sea Creatures' by Designs by Ryn and here is what I've come up with.


I added Peacock Feathers & Broken China Distress Ink to the background using the Acrylic Block technique.  (simply add ink directly from the pad onto an Acrylic Block and spritz with water and 'smoosh' onto your white cardstock).

I stamped the medium Coral from Ryn's Coral Set many times over the background using Colourbox Boysenberry, Harbour & Frost White pigment inks.   I stamped off the ink and added more coral into the background to make it appear as if it was in the distance.   Next I stamped the single fish from School of Fish set.

I embossed the small & medium Starfish and the small Sea horse from the sets on water colour paper with silver.  I coloured them with my Tombow markers, cut out and added as shown.

Hello is from Impression Obsession A3579.

If you get a chance to visit the rest of Ryn's Design Team, their blogs on posted on my sidebar.  Also Ryn's Facebook page is updated regularly with inspiration using her stamps.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day,
Shirley

24 comments:

Sue said...

Stunning as always Shirley colours are so vibrant hugsss Sue xxxx

Donna Ellis said...

How realistic, Shirley. I actually feel as though I'm snorkeling in Florida's crystal clear blue waters. Wonderful techniques, and very pretty, vibrant star fish. Love those angel fish and the pretty sea horses, too. Would you believe I just acquired a fantasy image of a woman whose hair is flowing in the ocean - it has SEA DRAGONS just like your amazing image by Ryn. I hope to do something with vibrant colors, the way you do. For some reason, that is very difficult for me. Sorry to hear about the snow flurries. We have perfect weather today. Our high will be 28C. xo

Alie Hoogenboezem-de Vries said...

Wow Shirley, what a great colours for the starfish and the seahorse against that vibrant blue!!! PIN :-)

Ryn's stamps are great.....

kind regards, Alie :-)

Ryn Tanaka said...

Hey Shirley, I just love what you did with Coral Set! It looks great faded to light at the bottom :) I agree with Donna - I feel like I am scuba diving when I look at it.

AngelicaS said...

Beautiful results, I must test the technique.
Love the vibrant colors.

Patricia said...

WOW sooooooo VERY BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!
Greetz Patricia

Wendy said...

Wow, this is gorgeous Shirley! love the colours and how you've used the coral, I have this stamp but haven't used it much yet, I am inspired!! Have a lovely day. xxx

Paula (PEP) said...

Thank you for the description of the acrylic block technique - that now makes more sense to me. I love the way your seahorses are both pink & green & how they seem to 'glow' in your underwater world. Using the black for the angel fish helps to give a sense of underwater luminosity to the scenery - quite a striking effect altogether.
Paula (PEP)

Sue's Crafty Corner said...

Wow Shirley this is stunning, such gorgeous colours. I love using the acrylic block technique for backgrounds. The only stamp that I don't have out of these is the starfish, all I need to do now is find the time to ink them.

Hope you're having a great weekend.
Sue x

MaryH said...

I see many other commenters have chosen the same word that came into my mind: "Gorgeous"! The turquoise & purple-y combo colors really did invoke a coral reef, and I loved the subtle effect of the shaded stamping...added so much depth to your scene. It's lovely, and happy to hear you had 'nice' (relatively speaking) weather that allowed you some outside time. Sounded like Brrrrr to me!!! TFS

Karin said...

Wow this looks great! Love the colors and the beautiful stamps you used!
Have a nice sunday!
Groetjes karin x

Gerrina said...

Looking at these card it feels like I´m in the ocean and looking at a beautiful scene! Just perfect how the background works with the starfish and seahorses! Hugs, Gerrina

Anjas-Artefaktotum said...

Again a wonderful turquoise background, I love that color so much. A perfect dream of a sea scenery.
xox Anja

Sophie said...

Wow! Shirley...
das ist wieder so ein wundervolles Werk von dir.
Das Meer ist so herrlich blau/türkis, es regt mich zum Meditieren an :-)
Die ganze Szene ist fantastisch und sehr liebevoll dekoriert.

Umarmung von Sophie xx

Saakje said...

Hi Shirley.
It seems the starfishes and seahorses are in a wonder under waterworld.
Beautifull colouring and design.
The background is a fascinating ocean!!
"Lieve groetjes" Saakje

Janny's Cards Creations said...

Love the colors they are beautiful. Janny

Anonymous said...

Beautiful work Shirly. I don't envy you the gardening Sweetie. Way to cold. I admire your stamina.
Take care,
Florence xx

Ellen Taylor said...

Thud! my jaw just hit the floor..wow Shirley your coral reef is amazing!

maria's knutselplezier said...

The sea is so wonderful, I really love your beautiful image, wonderful colors and nice detaisl!!! Great work of ART!!

Greetings
Maria

Darnell said...

You are currently a contradiction in degrees, Shirley! You are outside gardening, bundled up against the cold, but you are sharing with us a warm and pearlescent and full-of-life ocean scene!! Stunning, as always, especially the sea horses! Hang in there with the *&*^ weather ~ hard to believe that it won't be long before everyone will be barking about how hot and humid it is. Well, not everyone, some do like it that way ~ perhaps everyone will after this eternal winter!! xxxooDarnell

Marn said...

Hi Shirley!
Wow I love this card, just beautiful! Really pretty blue colours and terrific sea creatures, they are so sweet! I love the technique with the coral background, that looks so great, very real! Yes, very tempting to just jump into this card for a little snorkelling! Thanks for sharing this cheerful card!
Warm greetings, Marlene :)

Miranda said...

Hi Shirley, did miss this one because of the event I think. It's a lovely and dreamy underwater scene! Beautiful background and colours, warm greet Mirandaxx

Bonnie said...

One of these days I'm going to sit down and try to replicate one of your gorgeous backgrounds! Such beautiful colors!

Greta said...

Gorgeous creation!