Seascapes

I have been neglecting my paper-crafting in favour of photography just lately, so this week I decided to make a few birthday cards. I found an attractive lighthouse scene that was on a plate of Chocolate Baroque stamps, that I bought for one of the other images on it, and this one had never been used. So I stamped it a couple of times onto coated white card. I wanted one to look like a sunrise scene, and one a sunset. For both of them I used a mixture of copics and promarkers, and then added a touch of stickles to the water.

For the sunset I matched two colours from the image to double mat it, then attached it to a pale lilac card with a strip of glittery blue sticky ribbon across it. A vertical sentiment and a silver anchor charm finished this one.

When I stamped the sunrise I accidentally caught the edge of the cut rubber with the ink, so to eliminate this I cut it out in a rough outline of the image, and matted it onto deep blue, and then cream card. I made a base card of a similar blue, and added panels of printed papers from my snippets box and a printed band of seaside images from my Faye Wittaker collection CD. I mounted the topper on 1mm sticky pads at a slight angle and found a large sentiment peel-off for the bottom corner.

The third card is a bit different. I started by adding distress ink with an ink duster to glossy white card, in layers for sky, sea and sand. I then used an assortment of Art Impressions scenic stamps to make a tropical beach scene. I added a hand drawn boat and seagulls, and cut it out with a nesties label die. The frame is some shiny jade card that I rescued from a bank brochure. I mounted this onto a pale yellow 15cm square card but it was very muted colours and I wanted to brighten it up. So I stamped the flip-flops border stamp (Great Impressions), coloured it and cut it out, and glued it under the image. I then thought that as it was a tropical scene, some tropical flowers would be good. I turned to Penny Duncan's site, as she has made cutting files and tutorials for many different flowers. Unfortunately, as from this week the cutting files are no longer available*, but I was just in time to download the bird of paradise flower, and having watched her tutorial for hibiscus, I was able to have a go at cutting my own one out. Do visit her blog. She does some inspiring work. I cut my flowers from cream heavy paper and coloured them with distress inks before assembling them. For the stamen of the hibiscus I used a flower centre that you can buy in bunches from many craft shops, and I coloured it's post with a copic marker then coated the tip with glossy accents and dipped it into yellow flocking. I am quite pleased with these flowers though I have no idea how well they will survive if I decide to post the card. I may have to keep it for a hand delivered one.

* I am pleased to say that Penny has now resolved the problem with her files and they are again available on her blog. It is well worth a visit.

I am entering these cards in the Crafty Purple Frog Challenge; Anything Goes, Stamp and Create January Challenge; Anything Goes, and to the Make it Monday Linky Party 73.