Underwater Watercolor Seahorse

Happy Friday, y'all!  Ryan definitely thinks it's a happy Friday, he's running around in circles with Peking (his stuffed duck toy) and is very happy.

I'm very happy that I have more new schtuff to play with!  I am a sucker for all the ocean-themed stamp sets that SU! does, which is funny because I'm not really a beach baby (but the hubs is).  So anyway, Seaside Notions was on my first new catty order.

I wish there was a die for the seahorse, but I cut her out by hand.  For the seahorse and the coral, I inked up the stamps with Versamark, then whichever color I wanted, stamped it on watercolor paper and then embossed with clear EP so I could have color that didn't run when I watercolored everything.  I had fun with the watercoloring and everything dried fast enough while I was working on other bits of the card that I never got impatient with it.  Yay!  The background seemed a little too plain, so the sequins were a last-minute addition, but I like that they kinda remind me of bubbles so it works.

Check out this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

I used "Here's to You" for the card front because it fit the best with the sketch; the inside is stamped with a happy birthday from the same stamp set.

I also used this week's Color Throwdown:

Perfect for an underwater card!  I used some retired colors because I'm a rebel like that--Flirty Flamingo and Balmy Blue are still current, but Sweet Sugarplum and Pistachio Pudding are retired.  They play very well together though, I'll have to remember this combo for scrapbook pages.

Okay, it's almost time to head out to the gym.  This afternoon, if the weather stays nice, Ryan and I are going swimming at a friend's house :)  Have a great weekend, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Seaside Notions
Ink:  Flirty Flamingo, Balmy Blue, Sweet Sugarplum, Pistachio Pudding, Versamark
Paper:  Balmy Blue, Pistachio Pudding, watercolor paper, glimmer paper
Accessories:  Clear EP, self-adhesive sequins, Mini Dimensionals