Less is More Challenge #442

Good morning

I'm feeling very chilled this morning as it's the start of my first week off work this year.  Not much planned as we're still in partial lockdown here in the UK but some restrictions have been lifted so I should be able to get out and about, and no alarms are required so that's good enough for me.

Ok, this morning I'm introducing the new Theme challenge over at Less is More which will run for the next fortnight.  Here's the theme...

I decided to give one of my stamp sets it's first inking and chose this cute little crab...

I began by stamping the crab and then inking up another to use as a mask.  With him covered up I then masked a slim strip and inked this up to create the sand of the seabed, then shifted the masking to enable me to then ink up the water, before inking heavier over the top through a sun rays stencil.  I removed all the masks then coloured the crab with Copics.  Next I stamped the sentiment before die cutting the panel with a scalloped rectangle die.

I have been after this set of dies from Create a Smile for sooooo long.  It is so difficult to find rectangular dies which are designed in the correct ratio for UK/European A6 cards.  Most are American brands which are made to work with A2 notecards so you're left with an uneven border.  Create a Smile have really reasonable shipping charges and I received my parcel from Germany within two days!  Certainly worth checking out for those of you who use A6 card bases.

Next I made some dots on the seabed with a Quickie Glue pen before sprinkling with glitter and then used a white gel pen to add some subtle twinkles to the water.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Clearly Besotted - Water Plushies
• Ink: Memento - Tuxedo Black; Versafine - Onyx Black; Distress Ink - Pumice Stone, Tea Dye, Peacock Feathers, Mermaid Lagoon
• Stencil: Clearly Besotted - Sunny Day
• Coloured with Copics: R20, R22, R14
• Die: Create a Smile - Cool Cuts Scalloped Rectangles
• Accents: Nuvo Pure Sheen Glitter - Rose Gold; Sakura White Gelly Roll 08 pen

Thanks so much for visiting today.  I hope you all enjoy your weekend and to those in the UK, happy Bank Holiday!