Heart of a Mermaid

I am blessed to be from a large family. I have two brothers and four sisters I love to bits. One of my sisters reminds me of a mermaid. She always has. She has an affinity for the sea, for water and all things nautical. She was fortunate to inherit the Scandinavian genes in our family and has amazing mermaid-like long Scandinavian blonde hair. So often when I'm thinking of making up a card for her, I tend to favour the nautical themes in my creations. That or something to do with photography! She's actually a professional photographer, so occasionally I'll create a card with that in mind. This year for her birthday however, I really wanted to colour up this gorgeous Hannah Lynn image from Crafts and Me. They have some utterly stunning images of Hannah's and this has been in my collection far too long to have never seen ink. It turned out better than I'd envisioned and after trying to ink this beautiful mermaid up in blonde and failing terribly, she became a fabulous redhead! I think she turned out far better this way. My hair colouring still has a very long way to go, but even so, I'm really pleased with this creation. I even managed to sneak in a 'scale effect' on the hip of her tail.

The backing paper I've had in my stash since my earliest days crafting. I bought it in London from the craft department in Lakeland. I don't think they have one any more, but there was a time, they had quite a lovely selection of crafty goodies and this was a beautiful 8x8 pad with such sweet sentiments. Lakeland was my craft supplier in those early crafty days while I was finding my way in the craft world. This was my favourite paper from there and the sentiment is perfect for my beautiful sis. She has such a huge heart and is such a generous soul, this epitomises how I feel about having her in my life.

I used seashells to embellish this card, which were collected from our family beach up North which is a place my sister loves, so is a bit extra special to include those on her card. I also used some lovely silver organza ribbon which I tied using Jak Heath's double bow technique. The organza flower is a Prima flower as is the spray of smaller blue flowers. The green roses and heart pins are from Wild Orchid Crafts. The doily I hoped would subtly mimic the fabled mermaids clam and the muslin added a 'sea-net' quality to the card, all adding to the nautical feel.

Well that's all for today, I hope you enjoyed your visit to my blog today. I'll be back very soon with my DT card for Fab 'n' Funky, so watch this space. Have an awesome day. Hugs, Wends x

Challenge Entries:

Card Mania Challenge: #48 ~ Flowers

Sister Act Card Challenge: #60 ~ Anything Goes

Crafty Calendar Challenge: June ~ Petals & Pearls

The Squirrel & The Fox Challenge: #70 ~ Let's Hear It For The Girls

A Creative Romance: Anything Goes with the option of 'Happy Birthday'

Just For Fun Challenge: Here Comes Summer (Summer Mermaid Spotting)

Whimsy Stamps Inspirations Challenges: #72 ~ Tic Tac Toe (Ribbon, Flowers, Sentiment)