My Other Creations: Fish Embroidery Floss Holders using Jane Davenport's Mermaid Tail Swatch Die and Stamp Set

We're looking for inspiration from the ocean for this week's Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge.  Apparently I thought to myself, why not make a set of fishy embroidery floss holders?

I started out by cutting and stamping some mermaid tails using Jane Davenport's Mermaid Tail Swatch Die and Stamp set combo by Spellbinders.  As always, I used Strathmore Mixed Media paper and my Sizzix Big Shot.

I whipped out some Confetti stencils from My Favorite Things and smooshed white acrylic paint through them onto my mermaid tails.  When the white paint dried, I grabbed a bunch of Distress Stain and dabbed color onto each tail, then spritzed them with water to make the colors blend.

While that dried, I decided to make my own patterned paper to be able to embellish these with.  I took some white cardstock and started stamping images on it with Ranger Jet Black Archival ink.  I used some of my favorite stamp sets from Dina Wakley, Inky Antics, etc.

I added acrylic paint in lots of different colors to my stamped page (very therapeutic to slap down some color).  There is no rhyme or reason to what I did and the collage was looking crazy, but that didn't bother me because I knew I'd be breaking it down into smaller pieces.

I started tearing up my collage and laid random pieces onto my mermaid tails (which I had decided would be fish for this project).

I glued down my collage scraps using a UHU glue stick and then toned things down a bit with white acrylic paint.  I also gave my fish some eyeballs.  I then took my Prima Water Soluble Oil Pastels and drew some circles onto my fish and blended the edges to add some different colors back into the mix.

Here's how they turned out:

The last step was to use my Crop-A-Dile to punch some holes in the tails of the fish, then I wrapped each one with a different color of embroidery floss and connected them all with a binder ring.  

Would I take the time to do this for ALL of my embroidery floss?  Only if I was feeling insane.  But I did have fun with this project and do like to think of ways to combine art with storage.  I have these fish hanging where I can see them now and if I see a supply, I use it.  If it's buried in a drawer, I forget it.

Here are the supplies I used, which you can find at Simon Says Stamp:

Jane Davenport Mermaid Tail Swatch Stamp and Die Set	Dina Wakley Scribbled Text Elements Stamp Set	Inky Antics BIG BOLD BORDERS clear stamp set	Inky Antics Library Love stamp set	Inky Antics Muse News Clear Stamps
MFT Card Sized Confetti Stencil Set	Prima Water Soluble Oil Pastels, Basics	Prima Water Soluble Oil Pastels, Rustic	Twisted Citron Distress Stain	Distress Stain In Chipped Sapphire
Squeezed Lemonade Distress Stain	Tim Holtz Distress Ink Stain RIPE PERSIMMON Ranger	Distress Stains - Peacock Feathers	Tim Holtz Distress Stain In Picked Raspberry	Tim Holtz Distress Ink Stain Ground Espresso
Salty Ocean Distress Stain	Shaded Lilac Distress Stain	Tim Holtz DISTRESS SPRAYER	Dina Wakley Ranger WHITE Media Heavy Body Acrylic Paints	Dina Wakley TURQUOISE Heavy Body Acrylic Paints
Dina Wakley OCEAN heavy body acrylic paints	Dina Wakley Fuchsia Acrylic Paint	Dina Wakley LEMON Heavy Body Acrylic Paints	Dina Wakley TANGERINE Heavy Body Acrylic Paints	Dina Wakley Olive Acrylic paint
Dylusions Paint - London Blue	Crop A Dile	Ranger Archival Jet Black Ink Pad	UHU Glue Stick	Sizzix Big Shot

How will you be inspired by the ocean this week?  Be sure to upload your creations to the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog for your chance to inspire others and win a $50 voucher to the Simon Says Stamp store!