Give Thanks - New Sami Stamps Release!!

HI!
It has been really quiet around here this last week...I've sort of been in a little slump and am struggling to pull myself back up out of it.  It's always frustrating when the desire to work and create is there and absolutely zero ideas come to mind...I just stand at my desk and stare at things, getting more and more frustrated with each day that passes and I haven't pulled anything together?

Do you struggle with lost inspiration?  How do you overcome it?  I feel like I've tried everything, and I'm still drawing a blank...super frustrated!

I did find a little relief from my "crafter's block" this week with Sami's new release - Halloween Mermaids!  I'm thankful to be on this wonderful team!  Sami always manages to put together the exact thing I need to get my craft on and this release really helped to get a little creativity flowing.

I used the beautiful Pumpkin Mermaid 2 image for my card.  As I looked her over and tried to pull some sort of idea together, the thought struck me that she sort of looked like she could be floating in the water on that pumpkin.  So I rolled with that and absolutely love how it all turned out!

I started by creating a little mask so I could get a nice horizon line on my water.  Inked up the water with Tumbled Glass and Mermaid Lagoon and then spritzed it with some shimmer mist.  Once that was dry, I reversed my mask so I could make the sky.  Added a little Squeezed Lemonade and Spiced Marmalade for the sunset and then Spun Sugar and Stormy Sky to finish out the sky.  I adore how this all turned out!  I really looks like a sunset on the water!!  Made me so happy :)

Then I colored up my mermaid using some new ShinHan markers my fabulous husband bought me to try and help me out of my funk :)  I love him so much!  Not chocolate or flowers...markers :)  He knows my heart!

Once I had finished coloring my image, I trimmed it out and layered it onto my sunset inked panel.  Trying to create that background without full adhesive sheets to use as a mask would have been a super pain, so I just opted to color the image separate and add it on top.  I did add a water line on the pumpkin...but then I covered it up with the sentiment...oops :)

To finish off the card, I wanted to still stick with the fall theme, so I used the Falling into Autumn set from Newton's Nook and chose several of the smaller leaves.  I did some rock and rolling with those stamps onto some Stampin Up ink pads and then cut them all out to arrange them along the sides of the image.  That was a lot of cutting, but I think these leaves add the perfect finishing touch to this card!

I used a sentiment from that stamp set as well and heat embossed it in liquid platinum onto vellum before adhering it down and adding a few clear sequins.  I did add some sparkly stars in the sky and a few shimmer details to her fins.

I hope you enjoyed this card!  Hopefully I will be over my crafting hurdle soon and back to posting more regularly...it's been a frustrating couple of weeks and I'm ready for it to be over, but I also know that I need to take some time to refocus on me in order for the creativity to flow properly.  Hang with me! <3

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
    Crafty Cardmakers #150-Autumn Colors
    Craft Your Passion #285-Anything Goes
    Penny's Paper Crafty #251-Anything Goes
    Simon Says Stamp-Anything Goes
    Word Art Wednesday #207-Anything Goes

Be sure to check out the rest of the release at Sami Stamps and thanks for visiting! <3