Bad to the Gills!.../SBS July Facebook Fan Page challenge

Once again, I'm entering a challenge at the 11th hour. But I couldn't think of what to do until last night! Betty from Simply Betty Stamps has a Facebook Fan Page contest where she generously gives you a digi image for free (I know! Cool Beans!), but there are two catches: 1) you have to be a member of the Facebook Fan Page and 2) you must use the free image for the contest it was designed for. (Seriously, it's a no brainer!) For July's contest, she offered two images to choose from - Roxie the Good Mermaid and Spika the Bad Mermaid. Which one did I pick? Well duh! Spika, of course! LOL! Here's what I came up with:

I made a tag! This, I think, is going to be my new bookmark! HA! Meet Spika, the Bad Mermaid! (She's really not bad, just drawn that way! LOL!) Ok, I know this is not the best coloring job, mainly the tail fins. There are a couple new things I've tried out on this tag. First, I finally bought alcohol based markers! (I have Marvy Uchida markers, which are water based) Thought it would be easy to use my new Spectrum Noir pens - not! They react differently than the M.U's do, especially when using the blender pen. I only have the essentials and pale hues sets, which I used for the skin, tail fin, and hair. The green is M.U. (I strongly hinted to my hubby that I'd like the rest of the sets for my birthday present! We'll see how that flies! HA!) Secondly, I tried the Fran-tage technique for the first time! I sprinkled champagne EP and Gilded & Tarnished Mica flakes at the bottom of the tag, then heated it from underneath. Worked like a charm! Spika is popped up on foam squares. Oh, and before I did ANY of that, I smeared my craft mat with distress inks, spritzed with water and layed my tag into the mess. Once dry, I printed the sentiment from my computer.  OH, OH! Thirdly, I used a water pen for the first time around the tag hole, since it didn't touch the ink at first. Here's a different angle so you can see the shiny EP and Mica flakes better:

I finished with some baker's twine and some rain dots to mimic air bubbles and was done! A cute little underwater scene. Except for the crappy coloring job on the fins, I LURV how this turned out!

Well, that's it for now. Thanks for hanging on till the end of my post. For that you deserve an ice cold beverage of the alcoholic kind! LOL! Have a great day!

ETA: I'm also entering this for the CAS on Sunday #14 - Tag it challenge! Thanks Barb!

Chris
Supplies:
Stamps: SBS - Spika digi
Markers: Spectrum Noir; Marvy Uchida
Ink: Ranger DI - Broken China, Peeled Paint, Vintage Photo
Strathmore water color paper
Adhesives: SA by 3L - foam squares
Accessories: tag from my stash; Cloud 9 Designs - Rain Dots; Doodlebug twine; Stampendous - Champagne EP, Gilded & Tarnished Mica Flakes