By the Sea with Stampendous Fran-tage

Today's card features a bit more Fran-tage.  I really had fun making this, it is an adaptation of a frame that I am currently working on that some saw me working on at the Harrogate show recently.

I loved these stamps when they first came out and the mermaid is particularly suitable for Fran-tage.

I coloured the mermaid first then cut her out.  I laid on the Fran-tage embossing enamel, crushed glass glitter and the fragments onto the textured part of her tale then heated from below.  Once it had a bit of a hold I then heated it from above carefully to avoid the particles flying everywhere.  I didn't use any ink initially so it simply stayed where I had sprinkled it.  I added a little more embossing powder over the top while it was still hot.  It was just a pinch or 2 randomly sprinkled to make it a little more random and to ensure any loose glitter glass or fragments were held in place.

I then put clear embossing enamel over the tail fin, I did apply Versamark ink as I wanted to create a smooth finish and  heated it until I got a smooth shiny wet look.  I did the same for the rest of her, including her hair.

I wanted to give the shell a mother of pearl effect and as I needed to keep the powder only on the shell I used a Versamark pen to colour over the top of the chalk colouring.  I added a couple of layers of pearl embossing powder and while it was hot I sprinkled in some gold halo and champagne glass glitter.

I needed to use a translucent powder as the stamp is very detailed and the design was lost when I used the opaque chunky embossing enamels.

I also embossed the mesh ribbon.  The ribbon is 100% cotton so it wouldn't melt.  I pulled at it and roughed it up so it resembled well used fishing net before applying glue.  This helped keep some of the powder in place while I heated it.  I managed to add the Aged Gold embossing powder and the gold champagne glitter glass and it happily stayed in place.  The glue worked to stick the ribbon to the card as well.  I used USArtQuest PPA matte so any stray bits of glue don't show on the card when dry and it is well stuck to the card.  The ribbon element was a  successful experiment all in all :)

I coloured this part of the ribbon with chalks once it was stuck to the card.

I used chalks on the background and also at the bottom of the card after I had stamped and embossed a border stamp across the bottom with Versamark.

I made up my own mix and used ultra thick clear enamel and aged gold embossing enamel and a mix of fresh green and steel blue fragments and some of the glitter glass.  I put them into an empty embossing jar (I keep everything, just in case!)  I then shook it up to mix it up and sprinkled on.

I wanted it to represent a sea bed and was pleased how well it turned out on the textured card as once I had gone over it with the chalks the clear enamel and Versamark took the chalk colour too. I finished it off with some pale blue self adhesive mosaics.

If you fancy having a go at this, here's what I used:

Stampendous CRP151-R Cling Mermaid
Stampendous CRW068-R Cling By The Sea
Mark Richards Self Adhesive 5mm Mosaics - Light Blue (MR5547)
Stampendous Frantage Shabby White Emboss Enamel (FREG027)
Stampendous Frantage Treasures Frantage Glitter Kit (FRGK01)
Stampendous FRG06C-R Fresh Green Glass Glitter
Stampendous FRG07C-R Steel Blue Glass Glitter
Stampendous Deep Impressions Emb. Powder (EG020)
Stampendous Frantage Aged Gold Emboss Enamel (FREG024)
Woodware Blending Chalks (2887)
Sakura - XONB11 - Gelly Roll Quickie Glue Pen

If you fancy having a try before buying all the individual larger pots then the kits are a really good way to start, there are 3 kits, the embossing powders, glass glitter and mica fragments.  All the Fran-tage products can be found HERE.

Here's a little peek at a bit of the frame I am working on that shows the larger mica flakes.

I hope you manage to catch some of Fran's shows on Create and Craft today and tomorrow.

I have more to show another time, thanks for visiting and have a great week.

Jill x