Hugs & Fishes Card

I recently attended a subscribers' workshop led by Maryam Perez for Altenew's upcoming June subscriptions and created this card during the workshop. Several of the subscriptions have an ocean theme in June (the Craft-Your-Life project kit, the Creative Cuts die set, and the Mini Delight stamp and die set), and I have been having a lot of fun creating cards with the new products. If you aren't a subscriber but would like to purchase the products, they will be available to everyone in early June. 

To create this card, I started with a few shades of blue inks and did some masking on an A2 panel so that there was an inch of white space on each side of the card. In the center, I ink blended the blue inks with the darkest at the bottom. I added a bit of stamping in that deep blue section using a school of fish stamp in navy ink. Most of it is covered, but the stamping adds a bit of texture. I added some water droplets and then some of Altenew's Iridescent Shimmer Spray and a few drops of Altenew's Pure White Ink Spray. Then I removed the masking tape from the sides and let the panel dry completely.

Next I die cut the clownfish from the Craft-Your-Life: Coral Reef Wonders kit. There are dies to create 5 fish and an adorable sea turtle in the kit. I also die cut the Creative Cuts: Zero Waste: Beneath the Blue die using white cardstock so I could ink blend some coral and seaweed. I followed Maryam's design for the grouping of fish, coral, and seaweed after ink blending the die cuts. 

I stamped "hugs and fishes" from Altenew's Calming Koi set, but the words weren't aligned correctly, so to fix the problem, I ink blended another smaller panel that was the same width as my blue column on the card and went through all the same steps in terms of adding water and sprays to the small panel. I let it dry and then restamped the sentiment. I added foam tape behind it and adhered it to the panel. There was no way I was going to scrap this panel! 😂

To finish the card, I added a few clear enamel dots from Altenew's Colorful World enamel dots.

If you're interested in doing some crafty shopping at Altenew, I'd be so grateful if you used my affiliate link here: Carrie's Altenew Link.  I receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. Altenew carries many wonderful project kits, die sets, inks, sprays and embellishments like the ones I've used here. 

Challenges I'm entering: 

613 Avenue Create: ATG with option of craft/hobby (5/8; ends at the end of the month)

Crafty Catz: ATG (5/5; ends 6/18/26)

simonsaysstampblog.com/wednesdaychallenge/: Add a sentiment (5/5; ends 6/17/26)

A Place To Start: ATG with option of anything but a card (6/8; ends at the end of the month)

The Paper Funday Challenges: ATG with option of polkadots and/or stripes (my Clownfish have stripes) (6/6; ends at the end of the month)

Word Art Wednesday: ATG (5/5 for the week; 5/10 for the challenge; ends 6/24/26)

Crafts Galore Encore Challenge Blog: ATG (2/3; ends at the end of the month)

Crafty Animals: ATG with animals (2/3; ends at the end of the month) 

Critter Crazy CHALLENGE BLOG: ATG with a critter (2/3; ends at the end of the month)

****Pammie's Inky Pinkies**** **********Challenges**********: ATG (1/3; ends 6/22/26)

I'd like to leave a blessing for all the lovely visitors to my blog: 

The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you;

The Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.

--Numbers 6: 22-26