Very "punny" little seahorse

For all of my fellow card makers out there who participate in weekly challenges:  How do you control the urge to search out every last one?  I've only been doing this for a week and already have started to look at my card making in a completely different way.  Suddenly, I'm thinking "Oh if I add some twine it works for that challenge" or "That color (sentiment, technique, etc) would fulfill the requirement for that site."  I think I may be hooked and, in all honesty, I am lovin' it!  Concentrating on the details like this is going to really step up my abilities.  Plus, looking at all of the incredible works showcased by the various challenge blogs is truly inspiring.

Yesterday, I went through a list of the challenge sites I've already joined with previous cards and tried to work with as many themes as possible.  There were 7 that really seemed to coordinate well so I used the requirements for each and this is the card that resulted.

My little seashore is from Cricut's Create a Critter and can be found on page 42.  He was cut at 3 inches and I removed the spot for his eye in Craft Room so another sweet little Peachy Keen stamp could be used.  White gel pen, Glossy Accents, and a bit of chalk complete his face.  I inked around all layers with Tim Holtz's Vintage Photo distress ink.

For the scallops on his head, wing-like dorsal fins, and little belly I used a stylus from McGill to do some curling to the back of the paper to add dimension.

(Love the end result of that simple step!)

I added a layer of Bazzill dark brown paper that was distressed using Tim Holtz's distressing tool between the card base and the top mat.  The card base and top mat are both Papertrey Ink paper.  The ovals were cut using my old school Creative Memories circle and oval cutting system.

I used a trio of tiny bubble stamps from My Cute Stamps "Be my Bridesmaid" set to randomly stamp some bubbles floating through the layers of blue papers.  Brilliance white ink was used.  After the ink dried, Glossy Accents was used to fill in the bubbles.

And I think the card wouldn't have nearly the impact without the Glossy Accents.

The sentiment is a combination of stamps from Papertrey Ink.  Life is a Journey is from their "Birds of a Feather" set.  And fin-tastic is from "Pond Life Sentiments" set.  I cut the Life is a Journey stamp into 2 pieces being very careful to not snip into any of the letters.  I love doing this with sentiment stamps....suddenly I can make my own sentiments.  The original phrase still fits back together perfectly.  Just like a little jigsaw puzzle.  

A couple of cooper colored eyelets and some hemp twine from my stash were added to the sides of the sentiment layer.  I think the "knot" in the twine gives a nautical feel to it.

As always, I appreciate you spending time at my blog and hope that you'll be so kind as to leave a comment.  I would also really love for you to begin following me!  Make sure you leave your blog info in the comment section so I can come by to take a peek at your work as well!

Here are the challenges you can find this card at:

Chocolate, Coffee, and Cards -- Color inspiration
Fantabulous Cricut Challenge -- Make a splash
Papertrey Ink Make it Monday -- Stamping random background
365 Cards -- All smiles
The Kraft Journal -- Layers
Kaboodle Doodles -- Anything with scallops
Addicted-to-Stamps  -- Wonderful with wings
2 Creative Chicks -- Anything for kids
Craft your Passion -- All at sea
Sentimental Sundays -- Child's play
Paula Holifield Crafts -- Summer sun