ATC - Visible Image April swap "I spy...."

Hello Crafty Friends,

The ATC swap at Visible Image is so much fun,
and for the April swap we were playing the game " I spy..." 

The theme was

"Something beginning with S"

I knew exactly what I wanted to make, but unfortunatelly the new stamps I had ordered were stuck in customs. So plan B it was. I had a look through my VI stamp sets and stencils, and here's what I came up with

a sparkly seahorse swimming in the sea with shiny "starfish" and shiny splatters with a few sun rays shining through the surface.

I had a hard time finding a sentiment or even a word to fit the challenge amongst my VI stamp sets, so in the end I "created" my own word. I found the word "see" on a sentiment stamp and masked it of so I only had the "se" and stamped that. Then I found an "a" in another word from a different set and stamped that to spell the word "sea". I wanted to write "Sea Beauty" but I couldn't find a "y" that fit anywhere, so I went with "beautiful sea" instead. I also created a card to send to my swap partner together with the ATC.

The sentiment on the card is also a compromise and one I had to "create" myself by mixing and matching different stamp sets. I did a little word play and used the word "sea" instead of "see" on my card to connect the two cards and to follow the "sea" theme.

Visible Image products used
Stamp sets:
"VI MINIs #1" - seahorse
"Born to Perform" - stars (starfish)
"Ride in the Wind" - splatters
"Believe in Unicorns" - splatters
"Affirmations" - for the "a" in the word "sea"
"Brighten the World" - for the "se" in the word "sea", and for most of the sentiment on the card
"Beautiful soul" - the word "beautiful"
Stencil:
"Strobes" - sun rays

Other products used
Distress Oxides for the background
Perfect Pearl for the starfish and splatters, and for the seahorse on the card
Sticky embossing powder and glitter for the seahorse on the ATC
VersaMark embossing ink for the seahorse and the sentiment on the ATC
White embossing powder for the sentiment on the ATC
VersaFine Clair ink for the sentiment on the card

I must say, I thoroughly enjoy these swaps! It's so much fun creating these small cards, sending them to new friends around the world, and then receiving beautiful cards from all over the globe. It's a win win! 

If you a curious about the swap, and mayby even want to have a go, visit Visible Image on Facebook. You only sign up for one swap at a time, so no commitment for more than that month if you don't like it. I can highly recomment it! The sign up for the following month usually runs between the 23rd - 28th of every month, you then have until the 23rd of the following month to create and send your ATC to your swap partner. You only have to create an ATC! I create a "matching" card just because I like to create cards, you don't have to.

Thank you so much for taking the time to stop by, I truly appreciate it!

Take care, keep crafting and have fun!

Jane
x