Fashionable Fish

You might be wondering why this fish is fashionable.
I've been participating in a challenge stamping weekend over at SCS. It's called Virtual Stamp Night, or VSN. You can read about it here. A challenge is put out every hour that somehow relates to the theme. The theme this weekend is Fashion. You have 45 minutes to make the card.

The challenge for this card was to use thread in your design. I started thinking about this as I was going to bed last night. I wanted to use my sewing machine, so I started thinking about fabric. The SU background stamp, Flannel Plaid popped into my head and I remembered that my niece's husband's birthday is coming up. He is an avid outdoorsman and fisherman. So I thought I would go masculine for this card.

I watercolored the fish with one of my favorite methods; markers scribbled on a plastic pallet and picked up with a wet brush. It's quicker than opening up a bunch of stamp pads, and more transparent than watercolor crayons. I sponged on Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Tea Dye on both the fish image and the sentiment.

I stamped the teal layer with the Flannel stamp in Garden Green to help tone down the brightness of the teal. I stamped the Canvas background on the small green panel and then I stitched it onto the flannel panel. I heavily distressed the edges of my layers with the distressing tool from SU! to invoke the feeling of flannel.

I had to use my Spica glitter pens on the fish. I used turquoise, olive, lemon, and clear. I LOVE these glitter pens. They have such a fine sparkle. I know that most "men" type cards don't usually have glitter on them, but I couldn't help myself. Anyway, nature has lots of sparkle, and I had to make my fish fashionable, right? teehee.

So, if you have a bit of time this weekend, join in some VSN fun. Anyone can play and the only requirement is to do the card in 45 minutes. That is a challenge, but I find that I can make a nice card in that time. I'm thinking I should limit my time for all of my cards to an hour. I spend way too much time agonizing over every little detail. With just 45 minutes, you can't ditz around with decision making. Decide and do it! That's my new motto.

I hope you are enjoying some lovely spring weather. We are having our first beautiful spring day today here in Northern Illinois. How nice for us that it's on a weekend! Thanks for visiting!

Stamps: Nature Prints, It's Your Birthday, Canvas, Flannel Plaid, all by SU!
Ink: Stazon Black and Tim Holtz Tea Dye Distress ink pads, SU! markers in Garden Green, Taken with Teal, Close to Cocoa, and More Mustard.
Paper: Garden Green, Taken with Teal, Basic Black, Confetti White,and watercolor
Extras: Spica glitter pens in turquoise, olive, lemon and clear; SU! cutter kit, circle paper clip, sewing machine, and black thread.