New Oceans Banner Created For The Rubber Cafe Using Scraps Of Darkness

 Hi everybody! As we slide into the middle of the week, my mind seems to be wondering more and more,  to a beautiful beach somewhere.  I love the soft blues and greens of the ocean, the textures of the boardwalk, seashells, and netting, as well as the various types of creatures that dwell there.
I created this banner with that feel in mind. I used pieces of the January  Scraps Of Darkness Escape Kit and Color Add On to create this tropical banner, along with lots of product and stamps from The Rubber Cafe.

 I started with a chipboard layer that I cut into the desired shape. I then used my Textured Tissue Paper Background Tutorial that I did for some DT work over at Scraps Of Darkness to create the background. The next layer is a piece of Corrugated Board that I gesso'ed and tore tidal pool, peek a boos into, then applied gel medium randomly and sprinkled on Terrifically Teal Your So Fine Glitter for lots of added texture and shine. I then took  Scrap Happy Glue and created corner patterns and glued down seed beeds for layered up texture. I can tell you putting those tiny little seed beads on is no picnic, but boy did the Stick Em' Up make my job easier!

 Here is a close up look at the detail of the background where you can see how in spots, I used Scrap Happy Glue  randomly, then sprinkled Terrifically Teal Your So Fine Glitter onto it to create a beautiful shimmer. If you look at the corrugated board you will see the detail of the Glitter on the places where I randomly used modeling paste.

 For the sentiment, I took the New Oceans Stamp and stamped it into some Creative Paper Clay,  took a sea shell and stamped it's edges around the edging of the paper clay, and let the piece air dry. I then took a Tim Holtz Distress Marker and colored the stamping in. I layered the clay piece onto a Graphic 45 paper from the January Kit that I heavily water distressed. I then ran some cheesecloth across the layer and added 2 Petaloo flowers from the kit, popping on some of the sweet Pearl Jellie Dots to the centers.

 Next, I stamped the Mermaid image using the Mermaid With Shell stamp, and then colored her in and then took Scrap Happy Glue  and did some detail work on her body and hair, and coated it with Copper Your So Fine Glitter , I then repeated the process for some of the bottom half detail and coated it with Terrifically Teal Your So Fine Glitter. I adhered the Mermaid piece using The One And Only Tape mounted on foam for dimension.

For the final details, I fussy cut some fish out of some Graphic 45 paper from the SOD kit, popped them into  the tidal pool, peek a boos, and gave them some little air bubbles using Crystal Clear Jellie Dots and then popped on some real seashells, and small dried starfish to top it all off. For a beautiful way to hang the banner, I set some eyelets, bent some Tim Holtz Memo pins to look like fish hooks and then threaded some Really Reasonable Ribbon, Sheer Iridescent Ribbon in Teal through the hooks and the eyelets.

I hope you enjoyed this visual trip to the ocean with all the color,  texture, and sea creatures. I know it is not as good as the real thing, but hopefully it allowed you to escape the real world for a few minutes. ~Renea