Dad's Birthday card- World Map & The Open Sea Coloured with Blendabilities

It was my Dad's birthday this month, & since he likes old maps with ships and whales or some crazy old fashioned monstrous sea creatures on them ... this was the card I made for him (minus the sea creature). 

I am so disappointed to here that the Blendabilities have been discontinued, even though I had made this card before discovering this, I thought I would still share it anyway.

Stamp Sets: World Map & The Open Sea
Card stock: Naturals White, Whisper White & Soft Suede
Ink: Memento Black, Soft Suede & Basic Gray
Blendabilites: Old Olive, Daffodil Delight, Crumb Cake, Ivory, Natural, Bronze, Bermuda Bay, Soft Sky, Smoky Slate & Night of Navy.
Punches: 2 1/2" Circle
Extras: Linen Thread & Clear Embossing Powder

Colours used in the card.

Colouring the water.

Making a start on the land. Mapping out green & dry land.

Filling in the land & trying to add some mountains & ridges.

Sometimes you don't have the right colour for the job, but you can mix up your colours a bit. Try adding say a darker colour to your acrylic block, then picking up some of that colour on the tip of a lighter (or just different) colour marker, as you colour with the marker the darker colour will blend with it then fade out as it returns to the original colour. Note: If you do this, it is a good idea to scribble off all the excess colour on to scrap paper before you put the lid back on. You don't want to risk it staining the marker.

Staz-on Cleaner & wet wipes or paper towel will clean off any left over Blendabilities from the acrylic blocks.

This is what the map looked like after I added colour after colour & layer after layer.

I'm not even sure if I took a picture after every colour I used or if I've even put them on here in the right order, but you get the idea. There's no right or wrong way to colour with blendabilities, it's just a matter of practise, & as crafters we learn to hide our mistakes with embellishments... : )

Colour the ship.

The embossing process before the crackle effect.

After I had embossed the circle of card stock with the coloured ship at least 6 times, I put it in the freezer for about 10-15 minutes, then bent it and twisted it to get the "cracked glass effect".

Of course no old map would be complete without some sort of distressing.
I sponged all around the edges with Baked Brown Sugar.

 Cutting out the anchor can be fiddly, but it's worth the effort to be able to wrap some twine or thread through it like old rope.

To see the first card I made with the World Map & Blendabilities click here.