Set Sail in the Direction of Your Dreams

This past week I made this wooden decor piece for a friend who graduated from high school.  It's about 6" x 8" and I used a wooden block that I picked up from Joann's left over from the holidays.  I painted the block and then added the designer paper from the Come Sail Away designer paper set for the background.

I used the Stitched Nested Labels to frame in the saying.  Then I added a compass cut-out from the designer paper, a stamped lighthouse, some ribbon, a cut out silver wheel, an anchor, a stamped world image from an old sailboat set and some more embellishments.  I added some designer paper on all 4 sides of the block to give it a finished look.

I love how it turned out.  You can make decor out of any stamp set or paper!  What will you make from this set?

Come Sail with Me!

I love anything that reminds me of the ocean.  Seriously, why do I not go there more?  This month I chose to use the Sailing Home stamp set for my cards and projects. 

The designer papers have a great masculine look to them, but they don't have to be for men only.  Even ladies like blue and sailboat cards.  :)

This first card is from Bonnie O'Neill.  You can't see in the photo, but the wheel is cut out from silver paper, which makes it shine so nicely. 

The second card with the sunset in the background came from raxzldazl on Pinterest.  I used a punch to create the circle mask and sponged in the sunset.  I made the waves from a stamp in the Lilypad Lake set.  

I colored in the sailboat using the blends and added just a bit of orange color on the "sea" for the reflection of the sunset in the water.  I used the blends to create a shadow near the boat.  I added two orange sequins and that really tied in the orange colors on this card.  Ah, don't you wish you were on that sailboat right about now?

I got the idea for this card from Narelle Farrugia.  She has some really nice cards on her blog.  I added the lime green card and coloring to give it some pizazz and then finished it off with a couple of lime green accent sequins.  The background for the saying is just cut out from some green cardstock to frame the saying.  

Here is the inside of the card.  I made it for a friend who is graduating from high school.  I love the saying, Set sail in the direction of your dreams.  Right?

And latestly, I found this idea from Stacey Marsh.  It is simple, and yet so profound.  I changed up the colors a bit and used the new Seaside Spray color along with gray accents.  Then I just tied a gray piece of thick twine in the anchor.  Perfect, easy card.

Which one do you like the best?