Hi, crafty friends. I have a beach card to share with you today, made with the Beach critters digi stamp set from Streamside Studios. So far, this summer has been cold and wet, so I’m using this card to dream of warmer weather.
I created my little scene with the palm tree, a couple of surfboards and a penguin. I can never resist a penguin, and this one has a hula skirt – I was sold! I colored my scene with Copics, and the plan I had initially went out the window. I was going to color the base of the surfboards in a light yellow, almost white, but then I came up with this soft orange combo and totally changed everything else to fit. Instead of a soft blue sky, I ink blended a sunset using Honeysuckle, Clementine and Buttercup inks from Concord and 9th. I then used the largest die in the A2 Stitched Rectangle STAX 1 set from My Favorite Things, along with the Watercolor Wash Free Form die, also from MFT, to create a rectangular panel with a fun window. I die cut a couple more to stack behind the front panel to create a little bit of dimension, before adhering it all to my colored image.
I adhered a quarter sheet of Clementine cardstock from Concord & 9th directly to a top fold card base and glued my scene in the center. This created a bit of an orange border around the image. I then die cut Cloud 1 & 2 from Papertrey Ink out of Heavyweight Translucent vellum from My Favorite Things. I love die cut vellum clouds. This vellum is super thick, so the glue I put behind it doesn’t even show through, but I still placed enamel dots strategically on top. Old habit, I guess. These enamel dots are actually from a Halloween pack from Papirdesign. Onto a piece of True Black cardstock from Papertrey Ink, I stamped and white heat embossed a sentiment from the Bitty Birthday Wishes stamp set from My Favorite Things. I cut it down to a strip, added a couple of extra layers of cardstock behind it and adhered it to my card.
I used quite a few Copics for this one.
I colored the image with my Copics before cutting out a couple of quick masks for the deer and bunny. I ink blended a soft blue circle behind them, using the Watercolor Circle stencil from My Favorite Things and ink (Harbor ink from Concord and 9th) that was left on my light blue blender brush from my last project. Using a die in the Additional A2 Layers die set from Waffle Flower, I cut my panel down, added four layers of cardstock behind it for dimension and put it aside while I worked on the rest of my card.
To a top fold white card base, I adhered a piece of patterned paper from the Watercolor Wash 6×6 paper pad from My Favorite Things and added my stacked panel in the center. Using a die from the Sweet Sentiments die set from Altenew, I die cut for you twice from white cardstock and once from the patterned paper. I stacked the die cuts and glued my sentiment right above the deer. The green patterned paper is very soft, but by stacking the die cuts, the sentiment still stands out a little. I added a bit of black Glaze pen to the eyes and finished off the card with pearls from the Fresh Mint mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.
Limited color palette for this one, it came together fairly quickly.
I colored up my image with Copics, before stamping on top of the black lines with Obsidian ink from Altenew to darken up the lines even further. I fussy cut the image, leaving a bit of white trim around the edges, then put it aside while I worked on the rest of my card. Using the Snow Drifts Cover-Up die from My Favorite Things, I die cut three segments of the die from three shades of blue cardstock (Cornflower, Lazy Day and Blue Breeze, all from My Favorite Things). Even though it’s a snow die, it totally works for waves, I think. I inked up the top of each die cut using matching inks (Cornflower and Lazy Day from MFT for the darkest and middle color cardstock, Harbor ink from Concord & 9th for the lightest). I added ink splatter to all three using Cornflower ink and also Concord & 9th White. I adhered them to a scrap of cardstock to make them work as one die cut instead of three separate ones.
I used the Ray of Light stencil from My Favorite Things to ink blend yellow ink onto a piece of Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I used Harvest Gold ink from Papertrey Ink, and added a little bit of Sunshine ink from Simon Says Stamp near the top for a little more intensity. I then used what I had left on my ink blending brush to cover the entire thing, I didn’t want the background to be stark white, and this worked beautifully. I added ink splatter once again using the Sunshins ink, cut the panel down and stamped a sentiment from the 
I used a very limited color palette for this one.
I’ve had this duck colored for quite a while, but sometimes, life just gets busy. I fussy cut him, leaving a white border around the edge and did the same with the butterflies and the balloon from the same stamp set. I ink blended clouds on a piece of Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink using Harbor ink from Concord & 9th and the Rolling Clouds stencil from My Favorite Things. I die cut my panel using the largest die in the Blueprints 27 die set, also from MFT.
I covered my white card base with a piece of light pink glitter cardstock from Kort & Godt. I added a few layers of cardstock behind my die cut panel to give it a little lift and adhered it in the center, before placing stacked die cut words on top. I used the Hipp hurra die set from Kort & Godt to create these, cutting four of each words from white cardstock and the top from the same pink glitter cardstock I used to cover the front of the card. I threaded black sewing thread through the balloon and the wing of the duck. I added a bow to the balloon using the same thread and mounted both the duck and the balloon onto the card using foam tape. I adhered the butterflies above the balloon, before heat embossing a sentiment from the A06 stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS. I cut it down to a strip, put a few additional layers of cardstock on the back of it and adhered it below my die cut sentiment, before finishing off with a few gems from the 
Yellows and pink and nothing else for this one.
I used the panda peeking out from behind a fence or a wall or whatever you’d like it to be, as well as the bamboo. I used the bamboo multiple times to create a “wall” of bamboo behind my panda. I created mirrored versions so they wouldn’t all look the same, and I made sure to make them different heights. I erased the bottom of the bamboo so they’d end at the horizontal lines going out from the paws of the panda. Once I printed my image, I used a 0.35 Copic multiliner to extend the horizontal lines, making it look like a wall. I colored in my image, making sure to use a couple of green combos for the bamboo leaves for a little bit of variety.
I used the largest die in the A2 Stitched Rectangle STAX Set 2 die set from My Favorite Things to create a nice faux stitch border around the edge, before adhering it to a black card base I created from True Black cardstock from Papertrey Ink. With my pink wall, I felt like I had to make a baby card, but I didn’t want to, so I opted for the black. I used the Sweet Sentiments die set from Altenew to die cut my thanks word. I stacked three black die cuts for dimension and die cut the shadow from Stamper’s Select White cardstock, also from Papertrey Ink. I rarely use shadow dies, but I knew I was going to white heat emboss the rest of the sentiment, so I figured it would work. I also tend to pop up my sentiments, but actually adhered this one flat down onto the card. It still has dimension because of the stacking. I stamped and white heat embossed a sentiment from the Bitty Thanks & Gratitude stamp set from My Favorite Things, cut it down to a strip and adhered it on top of my stacked die cut. I put an extra strip behind it for a little bit of strength. I also added a black glaze pen to the eyes and nose, before going in with a white Gelly Roll 05 on top once the black was dry. This adds some shine to my little panda. I decided not to add any embellishments to this card, which is really rare for me.
Not a ton of colors used for this one. I used E81 and the blender with the tip to tip technique to color the “white” fur.
I colored my raccoon with Copics, deciding to go with a triadic color combo of primary colors for his paints and accessories. I obviously used green for the grass, but the rest of this is all red, blue and yellow. I used the second largest die in the Watercolor Rectangle STAX die set from My Favorite Things to give it a playful, loose look on the edges, then used the Say Anything stencil, also from My Favorite Things, to ink blend a speech bubble using Harvest Gold ink from Papertrey Ink.
In the speech bubble, I stamped a couple of sentiments from the Mini Messages & More stamp set from My Favorite Things, using Obsidian ink from Altenew. I took the various ink splatter stamps in the same stamp set and stamped in various colors across my panel, to amp up the crafty feel of the card. I used Watermelon, Harbor and Dove inks from Concord & 9th, as well as more of the Papertrey Ink Harvest Gold color that I used for the ink blending. Onto a card base I created from Cement Gray cardstock from My Favorite Things, I added some strips of cardstock to break the lines in my design. I used Watermelon cardstock from Concord & 9th, Blue Breeze from My Favorite Things and Harvest Gold from Papertrey Ink. I added my panel in the center using foam tape, and finished off with a few sequins from the Starry Night mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards. I actually also used a black glaze pen to create shine and a tiny bit of dimension to the eyes. On the raccoon, I also used a dot of white Gelly Roll 05 to each of the eyes once the black was dry.
I used a fairly small amount of Copics for this one.
I stamped and masked 
Once all my coloring was complete, I stamped on top of my critters, this time using Obsidian ink from Altenew. This is a very crisp pigment ink, and it makes the critters really stand out, but it’s not Copic friendly, so all the coloring needs to be complete when doing this. To finish off, I stamped a sentiment from 
Lots of Copics for this one.
I started by ink smooshing Harbor ink from Concord & 9th onto a panel of Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink. This ink color is very interesting when you get it wet, it shatters into a sky blue and a very purply blue, making it look like I used more than just the one color of ink. The butterflies look painted, so I thought the ink smooshed background was a natural choice.
I fussy cut the butterflies and bent the wings backwards. I glued the bodies directly to the card front and put foam squares on the back of the wings to give them a little lift (since taking these photos, I’ve adhered the body of the big butterfly directly to the card front, but it’s kind of floating here). I used a hug die (die 244 Klem) to die cut twice from white cardstock and once from Wheat cardstock from Concord & 9th. I stacked them together, but I felt like there wasn’t enough dimension, so I added foam squares to the back of the layered die cut and adhered it to the card. This gives it more lift and a floating effect that you can’t achieve by stacking die cuts alone. I finished off the card with a visual triangle of pearls that match the butterflies and the inked background.
I printed my image on a quarter sheet of X-Press It blending card and colored it in. I stamped the word friend from the Mini Messages stamp set from Mama Elephant using Obsidian ink from Altenew. The sentiment actually says hello friend across two lines, but I masked off the top row so I’d have friend isolated. I adhered my panel to a top fold card base and used a black glaze pen to add some shine and a tiny bit of dimension to the eyes of the bunnies, the girl and the cute little bird.
Onto a scrap piece of X-Press It, I scribbled RV34 across a section large enough to die cut from. The Sweet Sentiments die set from Altenew is such a great one, I love that these dies create small words that don’t take up too much real estate on a card. I backed my colored die cut with two white ones for a little bit of dimension and added it at somewhat of an angle right above the stamped part of the sentiment. This also served to cover up a booboo. Somehow, I was able to spill a tiny little drop of juice from a peach (note to self – don’t eat in the craft room), and the sentiment covers it nicely. I finished off the card with a triangle formation of sequins from the Starry Night mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.
Simple, subtle color palette for this one.
This card started out with me playing with the cotton thread from Kort & Godt. I wanted to something with it besides tying it in bows, and crocheting came to mind. I crocheted three flowers in different colors, and that was my starting point. I created a subtle background using the Watercolor Stripes stencil from Altenew with VersaMark ink, Sticky embossing powder and Distress Glitter in the Rock Candy color. This gives a soft tone on tone sparkle on the white cardstock and doesn’t distract too much from the flowers. I thread the flowers through to the back of the panel, used some tape to hold the thread down on the back and mounted it using foam tape onto a top fold white card base.
I die cut the leaf circle die twice; once from vellum (I used Heavyweight translucent vellum from My Favorite Things), and once from Sprout cardstock from Concord & 9th. I offset them a bit, and used small amounts of liquid glue to adhere them to the card. I also die cut Konfirmant a few times from pink cardstock and adhered them together for a stacked, dimensional look. Once I added my die cut to the card, however, it got lost, so I die cut a layer from black cardstock from Papertrey Ink and glued that on top. That did the trick. I used a sentiment sticker to complete the sentiment and added some faceted pearls as a finishing touch.
This was a fun way to use the cotton thread, and I still have heaps more!
Papirmølla 