Whimsy Stamps ~ Pirates!

Hey crafty friends, I'm popping in today with a fun creation I've made, using the brand new Blimey Pirates Stamp Set from Whimsy. Man, every release they surprise and delight me! How fun is this?! A release almost entirely dedicated to pirates. Such fun sets for those pirate lovin' boys in our lives! 

I decided to create a bunting style string decoration. I used a plain one with some fun honeycomb pom poms on it already. But I switched out the central pom pom for a 'spooky' banner and skipped over one either side to the next pom pom in line, removed both of those and added my dapper ghost pirates all dressed up for the annual ghost pirate ball! The string decorations are hung, the grog is poured and they've paid their pieces of eight. It's going to be a right ol' shindig!

The fun skeleton body I've used for these pirates were Halloween lollipop sticks from a previous year. I've been keeping them for just this kind of fun and shenanigans. I added a diecut skull and crossbones to the second to last pom pom in the string, to add a little interest and fun. I ink blended a little vintage photo onto the skull and then splashed it well with water to get that 'old bone' effect. I shaped the skull with a larger ball tool, so it would fit the shape of the pom pom better for glueing. A fun touch to this spooky banner I think. 

The wonderful 'spooky' word die (a favourite of mine for a couple of years now come Halloween) I diecut from black watercolour cardstock and watercoloured with metallic watercolour paint to get this fun gradient of metallic colours. 

I added some toning pearls to finish the details on the spider and bat from a fabulous mix from This Calls For Confetti called Gala Diamonds and Pearls. It had the perfect matt gold pearls and a cool 'oil slick' finish tiny black pearl for the bats eyes. The banner background was also watercoloured, with just the sparkly wastewater from the main watercolouring. There was so much mica floating around in there, I thought it would be a cool finish for this banner. It doesn't show up well in the first pic, but that soft wash of sparkly colour is really pretty in the right light.

The first ghost pirate I added a top hat diecut to give him that 'off to the ball' look, and a fancy bow tie too. The second came with his bandana which is pretty pirate dapper already, so I just finished him off with a bow tie diecut. These extra elements come from a fun die set from Whimsy that was made to pair with their cute little penguin pals set. It's called Penguin Pals Pizzazz Die Set. I think those little finishes were perfect for this make.

I will show you a photo of the decoration as it will be used strung along a wall, I can't get back far enough to take a shot on an inside wall of the whole banner, so took this outside strung along the hedge. The details of decorations like this, just do not photograph well in these broader shots, as the shot needs to be taken too far back. So you get an overview, but no sense of the detail. This is why I took the first photo above with the decoration piled up on a table. But below, you get the overall effect of the strung banner.

Thanks for popping in today to check out my crafty adventure. This was a really different way to use this stamp set and I did edit the set by cutting away the crossbones, to better fit the pirate ball theme I was designing for, but you should check out the rest of the makes by our talented DT with this set, they're amazing!!

There are so many cools sets with this pirate theme in this release and the team have showcased them perfectly! You can click through on the banner above to head to the store and check out this fabulous release. I've also linked the elements I've used in the thumbnails below. One final pic of my creation with an arty 'sepia' finish to it, just because I think it looks cool. 

Thanks for visiting today and I will be back soon with another crafty adventure. It will be Halloween heavy for the next few weeks, so fair warning! Hehe. I hope you'll enjoy my Halloween posts as much as I enjoy creating them. Hugs and happy crafting, Wends xoxo

(I use affiliate links where possible, which helps the companies I design for to improve their marketing practice. I receive a small commission, which costs you no extra whatsoever, but helps these companies see where their marketing efforts are most effective and is a way they can say 'thank you' to their affiliates and design team members. I only design for companies whose products I absolutely love and buy for myself. My opinions are always my own. If you're new to Whimsy please feel free to use the Whimsy Stamps discount code in my sidebar if you're doing some shopping and remember to check out their retiring section, the deals are phenomenal!)

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