Barrel of Crabs - Stampin' Up! Ocean Friends

 The new Ocean Friends bundle is a fun one for looking ahead to warmer weather.   We love our blue crabs down here in Virginia and the lobster stamp is a great one for my New England heritage!  I paired the crab this time with some fun colors and the way I arranged them on the card front totally reminded me of that game Barrel of Monkeys that I had as a kid but this time it's crabs!

  I started off with a Pretty Peacock card base.  Then I embossed a piece of Basic White with the new Soft Waves embossing folder.  I used a blending brush and some Balmy Blue ink to lightly color the waves. 

  The crabs were stamped in 3 colors with the outline being full strength ink and the fill in with stamped off once of the same color.  I found it easiest to stamp the darker outline first. I used Pretty Peacock, Lemon Lime Twist and Flirty Flamingo inks.  After I die cut the crabs I added them to the card front using dimensionals to adhere.

  The sentiment is a stamped off once bit of the coral in Lemon Lime Twist then the sentiment from the Simply Said stamp set.  I used the Stylish Shapes dies to cut it out and then backed it with a Pretty Peacock punched circle.

  For embellishments I added a Flirty Flamingo baker's twine bow and some hard to see white sequins from the Adhesive-backed sequin trio pack. I arranged them so it looks like bubbles coming from the mouths of the crab.

Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Current items used to make this card can be purchased in my ONLINE STORE.  Items marked with * will be available starting January 7, 2025 with the release of the Jan.-Apr. 2025 Stampin' Up! Mini Catalog,  Sale-a-Bration or the Online Exclusives January release . If you'd like the opportunity to order these items early you can join my Stampin' Up! team and get preorder benefits!

Stamps: Ocean Friends*, Simply Said

Ink: Pretty Peacock, Lemon Lime Twist, Flirty Flamingo, Balmy Blue

Paper: Pretty Peacock, Basic White

Accessories: Ocean Friends dies*, Soft Waves embossing folder*, Stylish Shapes dies, circle punch, dimensionals, Adhesive-backed sequin trio, Flirty Flamingo baker's twine