Illustrated Mermaid Triptych

This set of mermaid theme pieces is a special order for a special customer. When she requested mermaid theme birthday cards, I knew she would want rich color and sparkle and glam for them. While the order started as a set of three slimline handmade pieces for gifting, they quickly turned into a gorgeous triptych my customer may have difficulty parting with!

Each of these is hand stamped on a hand cut base of high quality cardstock. They are illustrated in marker and watercolor pencil, and shimmer was added after the fact. They are adhered to coordinating backings. For gifting, they are adhered to hand cut high quality gifting card base and packaged with a coordinating envelope. However, if my customer decides to keep them, she could easily frame them using a 9x12 frame and a custom mat.

Creation Process:

  1. I hand cut slimline size bases (3.5in x 8.5in)

  2. Using my MISTI Stamping Tool, I stamped the mermaid image on the card base using black ink. The Mermaid stamp I used is linked below.

  3. After the ink was dry, I moved into the illustrating phase. For two of the pieces, I used a set of Copic Ciao Markers loaned to me by a friend! She was so kind to let me try them out. After working on this set of mermaids, I promptly bought a smaller set of Copic Ciao's of my own, and a few Copic Sketch markers too. They are fantastic for blending and illustrating. I also used a bit of white gel pen for accents.

  4. For the Pink Mermaid, I used watercolor pencil. This gave a gorgeous blended look that I loved.

  5. At this point, I knew I wanted to add some shimmer, so I got out my Jane Davenport shimmer palettes. I spritzed my palette with water and used a paintbrush to pick up the shimmer and lay it down on certain places throughout the pieces. I was going for subtle, and it was a beautiful subtle effect. The only exception is the pink mermaid. For the pink mermaid, I used a glitter pen to do a light shimmer wash over the mermaid scales.


6. I chose a coordinating backing for each of these from a selection of glitter cardstock.

7. I hand glued the backings onto the cards using my favorite glue, Tombow Mono Multi!

If you'd like to order a custom Mermaid Triptych, or even just one slimline card, you can fill out my custom order form!

If you are interested in making cards similar to these and wish to know which products I used, here are the links to the exact products. I make a small commission on any purchases made using my links.