Ship in a Bottle and Nautical Cards with Sin City Stamps

Hello everyone, and welcome back to another month of fun projects by the Sin City Stamps design team.  I cannot believe it is August already.  Where has the summer gone?  I guess I've just been so busy these past few months that it slipped right by me.  Nevertheless, I want to share a couple of cards that I made using the new Nautical stamp plate.   This is a really fun plate, and so fitting for those masculine cards we always have trouble creating.  No girly, frilly stuff here, unless Captain Jack Sparrow is nearby.

So let's get started.  My first card is not a new technique, but I have not seen it used for quite awhile.  It is an oldie but goodie, and I hope you agree.  It is perfect for my "Ship in a Bottle" card.

Supplies Used:

SCS 274 - Sailing Ship from the Nautical Plate
SCS  - Steampunk Circus Plate
Ultra-Cream stamping paper (Judi-Kins)
Blue Morning Glory Swirl print paper (K&Co)
Pear Green CS (Bazzill)
Sky Blue CS (DMD)
Black India Ink (Stewart Superior)
Distress Inks (Peeled Paint, Black Soot, Vintage Photo)
Chandelier Glimmer Glam (Tattered Angels)
Fran-táge Pearlized Mica Fragments (Stampendous)
Tattered Banners Decorative Strip Die (Sizzix-Tim Holtz)
Ink Jet Transparency
4" x 6" ziploc bag
Dawn dish detergent

Directions:

Cut Pear Green cs to 6" x 12", fold in half to make 6" x 6" card.  Trim print paper slightly smaller than front of card and distress edges with Peeled Paint.

Stamp ship in a bottle from the Nautical Plate onto a piece of inkjet transparency and again onto plain copy paper with Black India ink.

Left-Transparency                   Right-Plain Paper

Cut out plain paper image to use as a template for cutting out the opening on card front.

Plain Paper image for template

Place template in the proper orientation onto the print paper and cut out the bottle opening.  Distress the inside of the bottle opening with Black Soot.  Set aside.

Open card base up and align print paper onto card front.  Adhere to front with a temporary adhesive and  use a craft knife to cut around the opening in the card front only.  Save the CS bottle piece you just cut out.  We will use that later.

Use white glue to adhere the transparency over the opening on the card front, as shown.  This will be covered by the print layer later.

Transparency glued to card front

Attach print paper to front of card base, covering the transparency and matching the bottle openings.  The excess transparency is now hidden by the paper.

Card front

To make the "water" in the bottle, first grab a small (4" x 6") ziploc bag.  Place over the image to determine sizing.  I made two tick marks at the card fold line so I can cut off the excess and reseal it.  (TIP:  If you have a food saver vacuum sealing system, you can use that to reseal your bag, but I still like to tape all edges again for security.)

Ziploc bag on inside front of card

Once you have determined the size, cut and resealed it, fill the bag about 1/3 of the way with Dawn dish detergent, or any blue dish detergent you can find.  Otherwise, you could always add a few drops of reinker to a clear detergent.  Can you see the bubbles inside?  This is a good thing because you would expect some bubbles in a bottle sitting at the bottom of the ocean.  Right?

Dish detergent inside ziploc bag

Make sure your bag is sealed very well all around, then tape it to the card front on the inside, behind the  transparency image.  

To cover the workings on the inside, cut a piece of blue CS to 6" x 12", fold in half and adhere to the card front inside only, leaving the back inside free.  This prevents it from buckling.

Stamp "Happy Birthday" and "Let the adventure begin!" from  the Steampunk Circus Plate onto the bottle piece you cut out earlier, using a stamp positioner for accuracy.  Distress edges of bottle with Peeled Paint.  Adhere to the card inside.  Isn't that cute?  Nothing goes to waste.  I love it!

This is what it looks like from the front, with the blue cardstock showing through from the back.  Isn't is pretty?  You can see the bubbles inside the bottle.  I think this is so cool!  I love this technique.

Next, stamp the mermaid, crab, lobster, shell, and coral, onto stamping paper using Black India Ink. This ink is absolutely fabulous.  It gives each image such a crisp print, and will not run if you use water-based markers and other media.

Color the images with Distress Markers and fussy cut each one.  Shape each image with your fingers and attach to the card front with foam dots, as shown.  Add mica fragments to resemble the sea bottom.

Use a scrap of the same print paper to die cut one of the tattered banners.  Stamp "Catch of the Day" with Black India Ink, distress with Vintage Photo, fold banner and adhere to upper right with foam dots.

Here are a few more close-ups of these images on the front.

Voila!  You have a card that will awe your recipient and keep them guessing how you made the "water" in the bottle.

My second card is super simple.  We all need super simple sometimes, and I have several masculine birthdays coming up this month and next month, so I hope to get an early start with these.

Supplies Used:

SCS 274 - Sailing Ship from the Nautical Plate
Roman Midnight Chalk Ink (Fresco from Stampa Rosa)
Sizzix embossing folder - Airmail & Compass Set (Tim Holtz)
5" x 7" Kraft Card (pre-folded) (Paper Studio)
Map Collage printed paper (Paper Studio)
Ultra-Cream stamping paper (Judi-Kins)
Blue Kraft-Core CS (Tim Holtz Nostalgic Collection) (4-1/4" x 5-1/2")
Sanding Block
2" wide Mixed Media burlap ribbon (Paper Studio)
Distress Ink Pads (Tea Dye, Vintage Photo, Black Soot)
Ship's Wheel lasercut chipboard (Gina's Designs)
Cape Cod Yellow and Gray Baker's Twine (Bella's Creationz)
Silhouette electronic die cutting machine
Silhouette image (Ahoy Matey!)

Directions:

Trim Map Collage paper slightly smaller than the card front, distress edges with Black Soot,  and adhere to kraft card.  Emboss Blue Kraft-Core cardstock with Compass embossing folder and sand to bring out the kraft core.

Adhere this piece to upper left  of card front.

Stamp sailing ship onto Judi-Kins stamping paper with Fresco Roman Midnight chalk ink.  This pad has been in my stash for, well, probably a decade, but any chalk ink pad you have will work.  

Next,  I lightly covered the entire image with a light coat of Tea Dye distress ink to tone the color down and make it look more vintage.

Then, I did a rough cut around the ship image,   

and distressed the edges heavily, further distressing with Vintage Photo and a bit of Black Soot to give it that burned look.

Using the Silhouette, I die cut the words "Ahoy Matey!", appropriately sized for my card front.  I used a piece of gold Kraft-Core CS for this.  Cut about a 4-1/2" piece of the burlap ribbon, trimming the wire edge off of each side, and fraying all around.   Layer the pieces as shown in the finished card photo above.

Lastly, I wrapped some baker's twine around the spine of the card.  Very nautical looking, don't you think?

I hope you enjoyed my projects today and will give them a try.  I know we all need masculine cards once in awhile, so I hope this has helped to inpire you to create some for those men in your life.

As always, thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you will take some time to visit the blog to see more creative works from the fab design team.  Also, be sure to check out the special promotion going on this month over at the  Sin City Stamps store.  They have the most wonderful stamp images that I know you are going to love, and coupons to boot.  All you need to do is visit the coupon page and scratch off the blocks to reveal a random discount code.

Have a wonderful, creative weekend, and go do some SCS shopping!!

Barbara