BY THE SEASHORE

Since it is summer, I wanted to have something to do with the beach for my girls to create at my August Stamp-In Workshop. In the new Annual Catalog is a wonderful set, Seaside Notions, found on page 139. It features many cool images including a sand dollar, a seahorse, three different seashells, a piece of coral and some sand. It also includes four great sentiments.

The images, all with a hand drawn look, are so appealing and screamed for -- yes, you guessed it! -- fussy cutting. I had had many beautiful days on the deck this summer. Since I would fall asleep on the deck without something to occupy my time, I always always have a project to do.

I dug through my stash of retired Designer Series Papers for anything that might be conducive to producing a seashell or sand dollar. I stretched my imagination beyond reality in most of my choices. Hey, artist's prerogative, right? 

I'm not sure of how many of the larger seashells and sand dollars I stamped on DSP. But I do know that the number of the smallest shells I stamped were over 100. Crazy, eh?

Anyway, fussy cutting all these hundreds of seaside notions was my deck project for quite some time. 

After I finished cutting them all out, I sorted them and put them on three large cookie sheets for my girls to do their selecting. They needed lots of choices, didn't they??

This is my sample card I came up with for the workshop. It was so much fun to create. The girls had just as much fun putting their own unique creations together too.

By popping up some elements of the card, I introduced some nice dimension. And I had kept the card colors very neutral so no matter what combination they chose for their focal point, it was bound to match. Besides, the neutral cardstock called to mind the sandiness of the beach.

A cool, quick technique assured that the oval upon which everything was poised was subtle, but effective.

When I made this card, I was sure (without checking) that the Seaside embossing folder was still current, especially since it was so perfect for this card. Unfortunately, it has been retired. So, hopefully you'd gotten one in your hands when it was available and you can use it for your card!

Keep on reading for a tutorial on how to create a card similar to this one.

SUPPLIES:

Crumb Cake cardstock

Whisper White cardstock

Basic Black cardstock

Various Designer Series Papers

Black ink

Crumb Cake ink

Seaside Notions stamp set (page 139, Annual Catalog)

Big Shot

Oval dies

Clear Block E

Water spritzer

Seaside embossing folder

3/16" Braided Linen Trim (page 174, Annual Catalog)

5/8" Flax Ribbon (page 174, Annual Catalog)

Stampin' Sponge

Stampin' Dimensionals

Fussy cut components

Glue Dots

INSTRUCTIONS:

You might as well do this step first, since it will need time to dry.

Die cut an oval that measures 2 5/8" x 3 1/2" from Whisper White cardstock. With Crumb Cake ink, cover the large E block with ink. Spritz it pretty well with water. Turn the block ink side down onto the white oval. Lift the block straight up from the oval. If there is excess ink anywhere, lightly pick it up with a paper towel. You can use the Heat Tool to dry this piece, if desired. To try to make it as flat as possible, heat it on both the front and the back.

Stamp and fussy cut your beachy components. You will need a large shell, a sand dollar, a medium shell and two of the tiny shells. (You can actually use as many as you'd like; this is just what I liked for my combination.)

Cut a 4" piece of the white Flax Ribbon, trimming both ends at an angle. Using a Stamping Sponge, sponge Crumb Cake ink over it, covering it well.

Take a piece of the Braided Linen Trim, about 2" or so, and tie it in a knot. Set it aside for the moment.

Array your shells to your liking on top of the sponged Flax Ribbon. When you are happy with the placements, adhere the sand dollar flat, followed by the two larger shells, popped up with Stampin' Dimensionals. Glue the small shells directly on top of the larger shells.

With a Glue Dot on the knotted portion of the Linen Trim, sneak it under the largest seashell so the two ends extend at a pleasing angle.

Adhere this strip to the by now dry oval, placing it as you wish.

Fold a 4 1/4" x 11" piece of Crumb Cake cardstock in half, creasing it well with a bone folder.

Adhere a 4" x 5 1/4" piece of black cardstock to the card base.

Run a 3 3/4" x 5" piece of Crumb Cake cardstock through the Big Shot inside the Seaside embossing folder. Adhere this to the card base over the black cardstock.

Stamp the sand in Crumb Cake ink onto both ends of a strip of Crumb Cake cardstock that measures 1" x 5". Adhere this to the card base raised a bit from center.

Adhere the seashell piece flat over the sandy strip.

Happy summer!

Seaside

Smiles.