Hey Procraftinators! Today, is the start of a 3 day hash tag hop that spreads across blogs, YouTube and Instagram and the theme is under the sea! New content will be posted every day of the hop and the hashtag will change every day. How fun is this? Today, the hashtag is #thursdayunderthesea So, be sure to check out all the great content there is for you.

I did an ink blended under water scene with Alana from Lavinia Stamps, which I purchased from Lavinia World, of course! I started by ink blending Distress Inks in Peacock Feathers, Salty Ocean and Mermaid Lagoon on my Neenah Classic Crest Solar White 80lb Cardstock. I masked off a small area of the bottom for my sand. Once I was done ink blending the water, I moved on to the sand, by inblending the whole area with Distress Ink in Tea Dye and then I used a very tiny brush from the set to dab in Distress Ink in Brushed Corduroy & Vintage Photo to give it a textured look. I replaced my mask for my sand and used a stencil from A Colorful Life Designs called Bubble Zone to add some bubbles in Blueprint Sketch. I did some areas darker and some areas lighter to add some interest.

Once I was done adding all the dimension and texture to my background, I moved on to the stamping. I started by stamping Alana in VersaFine Clair Nocturne ink. I then, stamped the Live the Life sentiment, also by Lavinia Stamps, in VersaFine Clair, as well. I decided to do something I little different with the Sea Creatures from Lavinia. I did some two tone stamping in Oxides with them. For the fish, I stamped him in Squeezed Lemonade and Twisted Citron and for the Jelly Fish, I stamped him in Picked Raspberry and Wilted Violet. Next time, I would choose to stamp the fish in more contrasting colors as, it didn't really show the contrast between the two colors all that well, nor did he stand out from the background as well as I had hoped. You live and learn though.

Next, I took two different colors of Sakura Stardust Glitter Pens, a Blue and a Purple, and I filled in the scales on Alana's tail to give her some sparkle. This was a really pretty effect. I also colored her hair blue too. I finished off the panel by mounting it on a black cardstock matte before applying the whole thing to my card base. To finish the card off, I did some more two toned stamping of the sea creatures on the inside of my card and used the left over blue ink on my brush with the bubble stencil to ink blend on the inside as well.