"Under the Sea"

Hello crafting friends and welcome to challenge #6 at Lavinia World,

where the theme is always Anything Goes!

It's August and I'm in full Summer mode :-) With that in mind I made an ocean themed card using the lovely Guinevere mermaid.

I started by making my sea shell shaped card using the Sea Shell die from Marianne Designs.

I used Memento inks to shade in the embossed areas - Desert Sand and Angel Pink.  Then I added a few burlap flowers and pearls from Petaloo.

When  you open the card you see a pretty "under the sea" scene :-)

Here are a few close ups of the inside of the card.

First I stamped Guinevere and made a mask for the entire stamp.  Then, using Broken China and Peacock Feathers Distress Oxide inks, I created the background using blending brushes.  For the sand at the bottom of the ocean, I used Memento Desert Sand ink.  Next I filled in my scene by stamping the little seahorse, seaweed and fairy barnacle. To finish it off, I added Stickles to her dress/tail and a few bubbles.

I coloured the rock with copic markers being very careful not to go over the black lines.  Pigment inks do not do well with copic markers, but I only remembered that after it was all done.  Colouring the rock was the last thing I did.  I'll have to try to remember this next time :-)

I continued the scene by stamping the jelly fish, shoal of fish and more seaweed, barnacles and bubbles, using Versafine Clair inks - Shady Lane, Acorn, Nocturne, and Monarch.

I also added Glassy accents to the bubbles to give it some dimension without making it more bulky.

Since I didn't want to ruin the scene with my written message :-), I created this mat for the back of the card and stamped the Fairy Birthday message in the center giving me plenty of space for my message

.  If you're wondering why my stamped image looks different than the original stamp ... well, the stamp was longer than my mat, so I cut it in half.

Oh boy, I can hear your shocked gasp from here :-)  These stamps are made of very good quality material.  You can cut them in half and use them as you wish, and then use them again as it was originally intended by placing the two pieces side by side.  You won't ruin your stamp as long as you don't cut any piece of the actual words or stars.

Here is a quick recap of all the products I used,

 each linked to the Lavinia World store, for your convenience.

Guinevere

Seaweed

Seaweed 2

Fairy Barnacle

Shoal of Fish

Sea Creatures

Sea Bubbles

Fairy Happy Birthday

Memento Inks

Versafine Clair Inks

Well, crafting friends, that is it from me for today. Thank you so much for stopping by.  I hope you enjoyed your visit and will make a project to come play along with us.  Although our theme is always Anything Goes, you do have to use physical stamps, either rubber or clear. 

 NO DIGI stamps allowed. 

We prefer that your submissions use Lavinia stamps, but it's not a requirement.  However, if you do use Lavinia stamps in your project, your chances of winning are doubled.

The winner of the challenge will be able to proudly display our Lavinia World winner's badge on their blog, and receive a $15 gift certificate to the Lavinia World store.  Lavinia World offers the complete range of Lavinia stamps and papers.  Although Lavinia Stamps is from the UK, Lavinia World is a US based store that ships worldwide.

Also, please note that we are not part of any other entity or Facebook group that carries Lavinia stamps.  ONLY the cards posted to Lavinia World Challenges will be entered into the drawing for the Lavinia World prize. Also note that the gift certificates are ONLY valid at Lavinia World. 

 In need of inspiration?  No problem!  Just visit our Challenge Blog and see all the wonderful and creative projects my team mates made for you.

We'd love for you to follow us on Facebook and Instagram too!

Till next time,

crafty hugs,