Vintage Under the Sea

This is my Under the Sea for Melissa Guest inside her amazing book. I love creating underwater worlds, something to do with the gorgeous greens and blues and all the awesome critters and plants! Everything really, its an incredible part of our planet.

After adding a strip of white washi tape along the centre spine, I covered the whole double spread with clear gesso to preserve that beautiful oval frame and to make sure the watercolours and Distress Inks didn't go through the paper. It seemed to work well :)

Once that gesso was dry, I sprayed the pages with green and blue Tim Holtz Distress Ink Spray Stains (Peacock Feathers, Mermaid Lagoon and Twisted Citron), using a paint brush to spread it to the edges of the pages. Once dry, I spritzed it with water which made it look more washier (that's a real word), which was fine because it was supposed to be water!

Using blue Distress Ink Pads (Faded Jeans and Peacock Feathers), I stamped Darkroom Door Background Stamps (Polka Dots, Peeled Paint and Circles) without a clear block so I could press the rubber stamp onto the paper easier. Clear blocks are perfect to use when your surface is flat but get in the way when working on hills and valleys!

Using a much darker green Distress Ink Pad (Pine Needles), I stamped Darkroom Door Background Stamp, Weathered Wood across the bottom edge of the both pages, again without the acrylic blog... and then liking what I saw, I called it seagrass :)

With the ground and water basics done, it was time to add some creatures... more Darkroom Door stamps! I used the Sea Shells stamp set with Distress Ink Pads (Forest Moss, Lucky Clover, Walnut Stain and Pine Needles), using the acrylic block about half the time.

The above photo shows how the background once I'd finished, just before adding the bubbles, seahorses and their friends.

Its under the sea, so it needed some shiny watery elements... out came the Ranger Gloss Gel Texture Paste and the Dylusions Stencil (Holes, one of my faves). I applied the gloss gel through the stencil with a palette knife (Tim's of course!) then waited for it to dry.

Getting there... I wanted to keep the page with a vintage feel so instead of using black, I stamped the seahorses (Tim Holtz SeaLife Stamp Set) straight onto the page in a dark brown Archival Ink. The quote from Darkroom Door, "Believe in the beauty of your dreams" is stamped in black onto mixed media paper before giving the paper a wash of green and blue, edging in brown.

What to do when waiting for layers to dry? Stamp, colour and cut out your friends! Everything was stamped onto mixed media paper using dark brown Archival ink, then each one was colouring in watercolours, Tim's Distress Inks and Jane Davenport's Mermaid Markers. Once dry, they were all cut out with fine sharp scissors and had their edges inked with Distress Ink (Walnut Stain). This seems to help them blend into the page better.

This is the final page... you can't really see, but the bubbles are still there, all shiny and raised and the fish and a few other areas have spots of Glossy Accents on them. Everything is glued down with gluestick. The crab couldn't help himself, he just had to have a chew on the sign while his friend eyed off the seahorses with his newly drawn on eyes (black pen).

Hope you like it Melissa :) It was fun to create.

Thanks so much for visiting and reading this far! I do hope it helped you smile today!

Happy Creative Arty Crafty Day!

:)

Jenny