Watercolour Seahorse Lamination Card with Ink Pad Background

A project from our live show HTCN LIVE LAUNCH - Join Toni for her latest projects and inspiration - Broadcast 2nd June 22 · 06/02/2022 · watch it from 6:45

Create a stunning card featuring a watercoloured seahorse using a two-part lamination stamp technique, combined with a hand-painted ink pad background and decorative bubble details. The result looks like a professionally painted underwater scene with sparkle and dimension.

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Step by step

1. Take the solid portion of the lamination stamp and spot multiple ink pad colours (yellows and blues) across the stamp using the corner of the pad. ▶ watch 6:45
2. Spray the inked stamp lightly with water to blend the colours together, creating a watercolour effect. ▶ watch 8:45
3. Stamp the coloured solid portion onto watercolour card stock, pressing down firmly. ▶ watch 9:00
4. Add more yellow ink to the stamp if needed and repeat the spray and stamp process to build up colour intensity. ▶ watch 9:30
5. Dry the stamped image completely. ▶ watch 10:15
6. Stamp the outline detail layer on top of the dried watercoloured base using black ink. ▶ watch 12:00
7. Apply gold embossing powder to the black outline layer and heat set it for a luxurious finish. ▶ watch 12:15
8. Roughly cut out the seahorse image with scissors, not worrying about precision. ▶ watch 14:30
9. Create a coloured background by pressing ink pads directly onto watercolour card stock in multiple colours (green, dye, orange, pink), spraying with water between each layer and drying. ▶ watch 16:30
10. Add stem details to the background using a mask stamp and additional ink pad colours around the edges of your rectangular background shape. ▶ watch 24:15
11. Sponge white confetti ink onto the background using a sponge dauber, tapping to create bubble effects; apply in layers, drying between applications. ▶ watch 25:15
12. Draw dark circles of various sizes across the background using a dark pen to represent bubbles. ▶ watch 27:15
13. Add white gel pen highlights to the dark circles to make them look like dimensional bubbles. ▶ watch 28:00
14. Glue chunky glitter to the seahorse body, tail and fins using a glue pen, then shake off excess glitter. ▶ watch 29:15
15. Mount the coloured background onto black card stock to make it pop. ▶ watch 31:30
16. Stamp a sentiment from the set onto the card in black ink. ▶ watch 33:30

Tips from the show

• If you don't have watercolour card stock, normal card stock will work but won't move the ink around as easily.
• If you're not confident with fussy cutting, use a brush to colour in any white edges rather than worrying about perfect cuts.
• If the white edge from cutting bothers you, simply colour it in with a brush to match the image.

Written up from the show itself. See every guide from our shows · free how-to guides · watch live on My Telly