Make Your Soul Happy

Happy Friday!  It's Jeanne today with a little inspiration for the holiday weekend!  My card uses a die from the Beach and Tropical release.  That release and others are part of a big Labor Day Sale on the website right now.  And the new Christmas and Halloween dies have just been released!  How fun!

To start I picked my color palette by choosing the patterned paper.  It is part of a set so I knew all the patterns and colors would coordinate.

I cut my pieces using Day at the Beach.  I used ink in the same peach color to shade the under side of the umbrella and Distress Oxide Vintage Photo to shade the sand.  All other pieces are not shaded.  I assembled everything.

Next I cut an A2 card base from white cardstock, a panel 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 inches from the patterned paper and a white panel using the largest of the Nested Wacky Stitched Rectangles.

I stamped my sentiment in the upper right corner of the white panel.

I wanted that panel to have some texture.  Often I will flick watercolor or ink on a panel but here I didn't want to interfere with the sentiment so I used a favorite stamp in a splatter pattern.  This is one stamp I will not remount for use on an acrylic block.  The wood gives great control and if it doesn't stamp evenly so much the better!

I adhered the patterned paper to the base and centered the sentiment panel on that.  Then I began placing my elements starting with the umbrella, then sand.  I knew the umbrella placement was key because I did not want it to cover up the sentiment.

I then glued the other components to the front...

and added a few sequins for sparkle.  I even found a peach flower sequin!

Now a little extra - card and tip:

I used so many colors of cardstock that I had several extra beach balls, so I assembled them and decided to make another card.  This is note card size - 3 1/2 x 5 inches.  I centered the balls over the sentiment and used a Copic marker to add a shadow under each one.  A tip when aligning multiples - start in the center and work out.  In this case I measured and marked the center of the sentiment and glued down the first ball.  Then I added the two at the ends (I wanted them flush with the sides of the sentiment) then centered the 2nd and 4th balls.  If you trying lining up working one side to the other there is a fair chance of not ending in the the correct spot!

Dies used:

Thanks for visiting today!  Be sure to check out the Labor Day Sale online!

I hope you have a fun and creative weekend!

Enjoy...It's Your Special Day!

Hello!  This is Sukie and today I have a beach themed card to share.  I used the Surf Shack and Day at the Beach die sets.  Both of the die sets are from the latest Beach & Tropical die release.

I created a beachy background for my card by ink blending some Oxide Inks.  The bottom portion of my card was splattered with some paint for a sandy look on the beach.

The die cuts were also shaded with some Oxide Inks and then adhered to my card base creating a fun and whimsical scene.

Here are the die sets used on my card, available in the store: 

Day at the Beach

Hello Scrapping Cottage friends! Thanks for taking the time to stop and visit with us today. It's Mary Marsh here bringing you the Thursday edition of the Blog.

We have a brand new release of Beach & Tropical dies in the online store. We have 14 new designs in this release and they are currently on sale for a limited time at 25% off. They are so perfect for creating beach themed birthday cards, thanks you, thinking of you etc. Let your imagination soar! The Design Team has begun showing cards with these fun dies so take a look back on the blog for some creative ideas. 

For today I am using the new Day at the Beach die to create a birthday card for my daughter-in-law's August birthday. We just came back from a beach vacation in Sandbridge, VA. Sitting under our umbrellas on a beach chair and relaxing is just what her and I like to do at the beach.  She will definitely like this card. Let's get started on some details of how I created my card.

Design Steps:

I started off this week with a sketch that I found online. I thought it would help me create a beach scene. The rectangle layer would allow me to have the water in front of the beach chair and the circle to create the beach scene.  

Next, I cut out the beach images in various colored cardstock. I cut the chair and the umbrella from a patriotic designer paper. It looks like the ones that we have and use at the beach. For the sand, I cut in white cardstock and sponged with crumb cake ink (kraft).

I used the largest circle die for the 3.5" circle in the sketch. A cloud stencil helped me sponge in clouds with tumbled glass distress ink. I wanted a sun in this scene and decided to use the sun image from the Stitched Sun, Clouds & Umbrella die. The sun rays were a bit longer than I wanted so I trimmed them to fit in the circle. 

I cut the center rectangle piece (2 1/8" x 5 1/2") in a light blue cardstock and stamped my sentiment. I used just the words "our memories of the sea". 

For the horizontal rectangle, I used the same blue cardstock and embossed it with a wave embossing folder. I sprayed the cardstock very lightly with a little water before I used the embossing folder. Sometimes the paper will crack and rip when I emboss and this helps the fibers to break down a bit. 

Now that all the elements are cut, embossed and stamped I am ready to start card assembly. I attached the sentiment and embossed panels with double sided tape to the white card base. 

I attached the images to the circle panel with dimensional adhesive. I also used dimensional adhesive and attached to the the card base. To complete the card I added a few yellow enamel dots. 

Well, that's it for me for this post. I hope I have given you a fresh idea for a way to use this new die. See you again on Saturday. Also, we just added an Instagram icon to our Blog that links directly to our account on that site. Check us out there and follow us on that site as well. 

dies I used to create card: