Waving hello.

Hello!  To be honest, I think I lost a bit of my card making mojo around month 3 of this stay-at-home-all-day situation.  Maybe some of you can relate.  My go-to card when I'm lacking extra creativity is a clean-and-simple card (a card with a lot of white space).  Something about that pop of color against all that white just seems to make the message really stand out.

For this card, I used a circle stencil to apply broken china Distressed Oxide ink to the center of the background panel.  I then layered mermaid lagoon Distressed Oxide ink over the first ink layer using a wave stencil (I had an older version of the Newton's Nook wave stencil on hand).  I used black ink and clear embossing powder to add the "waving hello" sentiment (from Lawn Fawn's mermaid for you stamp set) under the ink-blended circle.  Once the background panel dried, I adhered the piece to a slightly-larger card with foam tape to add dimension.

Next, I colored the narwhal and school of fish from Lawn Fawn's mermaid for you stamp set as well as some ocean plants from the you are sublime stamp set with Copic markers and cut them out with the coordinating dies (mermaid for you dies and you are sublime dies).  With this card's simpler design, I chose my colors very mindfully, keeping everything to cooler tones.  I added some fun dots to the shading on the narwhal and white gel pen details to everything, too.  Finally, I used some fun "bubble" embellishments as well as glossy accents to the coral bubbles to finish the card.

This card is simple, but I know I'd smile if I got a waving hello card in the mail ... and who couldn't use a smile right about now?!  Stay safe, crafty friends!