Underwater gel print scenes

The batch of cards I'm sharing today was definitely the most time-consuming of the gel-print cards I made this time around. But I think they were worth the effort.

For these cards, I used various gel prints to make all the parts of the underwater scenes. I chose one main print for the background/water for each card, cut it with a stitched rectangle die, and adhered it to a white card base. To create the sand I tore a brown gel print into wide strips and cut the bottom and sides of each stripe with the stitched rectangle die so it would match the stitching on the background.  Then I used bits and pieces left over from a variety of other gel prints to create fish, kelp, coral, and seashells with the School of Fish die (Memory Box) and the Build-a-Scene - Underwater dies (Taylored Expressions). I even used a gel print to make the sentiment strip. I played around until I was happy with the arrangement and then glued everything down. I finished with some sequins to create the look of bubbles.

I don't usually stamp directly on the gel prints because they have a rough texture. But I wanted to stamp some little schools of fish in the background to add more depth. I tried Distress Oxide inks (Faded Jeans and Broken China) and VersaFine (Onyx Black). All of the inks worked, but I did notice that the images stamped with Distress Oxides got sort of blurry as they dried, as if the ink was bleeding. Luckily that was fine for these cards -- it's sort of an underwater effect, which is perfect.

I made one more card like the first two, although I did change the sentiment, and then I tried a different card layout. I have a set of small, shaped gel presses, and one of them is a hexagon. I had a hexagon print that looked like it would make a good underwater scene, so I trimmed off the extra paper, matted it with blue-green card stock, and then trimmed down the mat. I added the die-cut pieces and set the piece aside to work on the card base. I chose light aqua card stock and die cut the card front with the Fanfare Cutting Plate (Taylored Expressions) on the card front. The pattern reminds me of scales or waves, and I think it adds a nice, subtle detail. I used foam tape to attach the focal piece and a sentiment strip, and I finished the card with clear sequins.

Thanks for stopping by!