Beach Day

For this week's Stamp Class, I took out the set Beach Day to give the cards a summer beachy kind of feel.  I paired it with the dies from Paradise Palms.  

For the first card, I used Cloud Cover cardstock and embossed the white with a dotted folder.  Then I cut out a circle from Celebratory Sips designer papers for the focal point.  I added some palm tree and grass dies, and 3 cut-out surfboards.   I cut  out the sun in Pale Papaya and added some seagulls and the saying.  (One card has two palm trees and the second card only has one.)  

I got the idea from Narelle Farrugia.  This card reminds me of the beach on a hazy warm day.  :)

The second card is a little scene along the beach with two chairs and an umbrella.  I didn't buy the dies for this set, so we cut them out.  I used a Blend marker in Crumb Cake for the sand and then some sponging in Pool Party to create the sea.  

The designer papers are from Country Woods designer papers.  I got the idea for this card from Heidi Collins.  I love the rustic beach look of this card.  

For this final card, I used Stampin Up watercolor crayons (remember them?) to make the beach and ocean waves.  I just love how this turned out; it looks like the foam from the top of waves crashing onto the beach!  I could be sitting right there.  Wait - do I hear the sound of the waves and the seagull?  

I thought the card needed a bow to look complete.  I had fun making this card and want to make more.  It was fun painting the ocean.  All of the ladies who come to class loved painting the ocean, too.  

 

Going to the Ocean from My Stamping Room

Last weekend I took a trip to the Connecticut/Rhode Island border with a couple friends to visit the ocean.  It was so lovely there.  Sitting on the beach just watching the waves and soaking up the sun was just what I needed.  :)

Coming back into my stamping room this week, I made an ocean-themed card with the little sandpipers from the Wetland set.  I especially love this set now because I recently moved to Sandpiper Lane!

Honestly, it took me a while to find the watercolor paper (some of my supplies are still in boxes), but once I did I was quite happy with this card.  I used Gorgeous Grunge to make the sand appear and then I highlighted it with Wink of Stella to give it a little glisten.

I think you can see the hint of glitter that the Stella brush gives this card.

 I made several versions of this card, trying out different inks to see which one that I liked the best.  This one is made using black Memento pad and the others are made with Early Espresso brown ink.  I like the espresso ink the best.  I found the idea for this card on Pinterest  by Debbie Lamb.

This next card is an easy-to-make card using washi tape as an embellishment.  I used the Flower Shop stamp set that comes with a coordinating punch that makes the stamping so quick and easy.

On this alternative version of the card, I stamped on vellum using Rose Red ink and clear embossing powder.  It's hard to tell from the photo, but the bottom half of the card is embossed with a pretty scallop.  During my class, I let the students choose if they wanted to emboss on the vellum or just stamp on the pink paper.  It was pretty much 50-50.  The idea for this card came from Rachel Tessman.

After we accented the card with pearls, we used a little Wink of Stella to give the flowers a silvery glow.  Have you not heard about Wink of Stella?  You can order it here for only $8.00.  Click on Shop Now and enter Stella into the look-up box.  (If you want to look at the catalog, it's on page 181.)  What a great new product it is!

 The third and final card for this week's class is this pretty card made using the Number of Years stamp set.  I saw this idea by Elizabeth Miller on Pinterest. 

While I did like the card made in the mint macaron green, the other side of the paper has this pretty floral pattern on it.  The stampers could use either side of the paper.

I thought the colors were very pretty for this card.  We used Mint Macaron, Flirty Flamingo, Baja Breeze (an older color) and Old Olive for the leaves.

After adding mini pearls and a ruched ribbon in Flirty Flamingo, we colored in the flowers with Wink of Stella.  Everyone loved using this new product.

When the evening was over, I had everyone vote for which card they liked the best.  How about you?  Which one would you pick?  Unanimously, the Sandpipers won for the day.  :)