Hi, crafty friends. I have another card to share with you featuring stamps from the new Charmed by the Sea release from Purple Onion Designs, illustrated by Stacey Yacula.

This time, I made a birthday card. I stamped and masked Iris (running mouse), Tweet & Chirp (twin birds), the wood posts, the boardwalk and beach fences and finally stamped the beach house in the background, all using Extreme Black ink from My Favorite Things.

I had the scene all figured out, but struggled with the colors for this one. I’m usually confident in my color choices, but had a hard time with this card. I didn’t want to repeat the color combinations I’d used for the cards I’d already made using stamps from this release, and the combo I tried just didn’t work with the bright aqua. The door, windows and the trim of the beach house all have so many layers of different colors, and the end result is a mottled, rusty look. The rusty look, while not what I was going for, is cool, and I leaned into it by coloring one of the birds in the same color, as well as Iris’ skirt.

The end result is more of a fall vibe than a summer feel, but some people still go to the beach late in the season, and little Iris looks like she’s running away, so that part at least feels appropriate.

To finish off the card I stamped a sentiment from the coordinating Seaside sentiment set using Winter Lake ink from Altenew. Ooooh, I just had an idea (based on the Altenew color name, actually). Maybe I should make this card for different seasons, maybe a winter one, a more proper summer one and a spring one.

Fairly limited color palette, actually, considering how many colors I tried for the beach house trim.