Last Friday my husband, Pete, celebrated his birthday and one of the books I gave him was the Lonely Planet Epic Surf Breaks of the World.
I knew Pete would love adding more surf breaks to his bucket list – as I type this blog he is surfing down the south coast – and I knew I’d love looking at the incredible illustrations by the illustrator, Ross Murray, like this one below.
To make a matching card in a similar graphic style I used the Stampin’ Up! Picturesque stamp set, combined with one of the stamps from the Oceanfront stamp set. Thanks to Laurie Alexander, a USA Stampin’ Up! demonstrator who gave me the idea to combine the two sets.
I chose a vibrant palette of blues and purples, however you can really use any colours with this graphic stamp set.
The colours are so vibrant in this card it was hard to take a good photo that didn’t look overexposed!
This stamp set is photopolymer, which makes it super easy to line up the layers of colour, however, the bottom stamp that I’ve stamped in Starry Sky can easily bend, so I used my grid paper in the Stamparatus to line up the stamp before stamping.
The Stamparatus is a must have for creating this type of landscape as you often have to go back a restamp the larger stamps to ensure saturation of colour and coverage.
Other products used include the large palm die from the Palm Dies, the happy birthday stamp from the new On The Ocean stamp set and some In Colour Starry Sky twine.
The inside of the card has a a palm stamp from the Paradise Palms Stamp Set, with a Highland Heather sun – why not!
I’ll be back this Wednesday March 1, with the AWH Colour Creations team to showcase Rich Razzleberry. I hope you can join us then.
Welcome to Bronwyn’s sixth Birthday Blog hop! You might have come to my blog from Vicki Arrowsmith.
We’re a group of stamping friends who are celebrating Bron’s 60th Birthday in 2022 with six blog hops, over six months, with six fun themes! Tonight is our final blog hop and it’s also Bronwyn’s actual birthday. The theme for our cards is “Tropical Holiday” because Bronwyn is relaxing right now on a tropical holiday in the location of our header image below – Port Douglas!
I intended to create a lush card full of greens and vibrant pinks but ended up with a totally different colour scheme. Hopefully it still conveys the relaxing feel of a tropical holiday even though there is not a single green leaf on the card!
For the vibrant tropical sky I’ve used the amazing “Rays of Light” background stamp – I love this stamp and I seem to be reaching for it all the time at the moment. The image of the woman with the sun hat and glass of wine is from the “In The Moment” stamp set. I’ve also used the Paradise Palms stamp set.
To layer the woman with the sun hat and glass of wine over the top, I stamped in Stazon onto a window sheet. You could just as easily stamp directly onto the stamped background as well. I was going to colour in the stamped image of the woman, but in the end I decided to go with a monochrome colour scheme instead.
The palm trees and grass are die cut using the Palms dies and the clouds are die cut using the Give it a Whirl dies. I love combining different Stampin’ Up! products to create scenes.
The sentiments on the front and the inside of the card and the palm trees on the inside are from Paradise Palms Stamp Set that coordinates with the Palms Dies.
Next up on Bronwyn’s Birthday Blog hop is Jan McQueen. I can’t wait to see what Jan has created today!
Here’s the full list of participants in the Blog Hop – hop along to be inspired by what everyone has created.
I’ll be back tomorrow night with a Christmas project and again on Wednesday with the AWH Colour Creations blog hop where we will be showcasing Evening Evergreen.
Until then, wherever you are in the world, stay safe, stay calm … and keep on crafting xxx
Welcome to week fourteen of our Art With Heart 2022-23 Colour Creations blog hop! This is a weekly blog hop where we showcase the stunning range of Stampin’ Up! colours in alphabetical order over 12 months and this week we are featuring Coastal Cabana.
A special friend deserves a special card, especially if they are a crafter. My special friend, Jenny, celebrates her birthday this week and guess what? She owns a vintage caravan, has two dogs and lives by the sea.
Sadly, her corporate job does not allow much time for Jen to craft anymore, but I know she will enjoy receiving this side step birthday card that includes and celebrates many of her favourite things!
Coastal Cabana is also one of Jenny’s favourite colours and it features on her caravan, so I used the Tree Lot Dies to recreate Sylvia, her vintage caravan, in silver foil, Coastal Cabana and Basic Black, decorated with a Bermuda Bay bunting!
If you’re still thinking about getting these free (with any order over $180), adorable Sale-a-bration dies, run, don’t walk! They have already sold out in other countries and there’s only 4 weeks left of sale-a-bration!
There are 24 dies in total in the Tree Lots Die set, and yes, I’m including a set of these dies as part of Jen’s birthday present. Hopefully they will inspire her to craft again as I really miss crafting with her!
The sky background has been created using Tahitian Tide ink applied with a blending brush – the clouds are from the “Give it a Whirl” Dies.
The sand hills are cut with the Basic Borders dies, while the palm trees, grass and the sun are all die cut using the Palms Dies.
Why didn’t I use Sahara Sand for the sandhills? Fun fact – the beach where Jenny lives actually has a dark and coarse sand that it is closer in colour to Crumb Cake than it is to Sahara Sand.
If you’d like to create a side step card yourself, here is the step-by-step metric template I designed last year to minimise waste so you can make two side step cards per A4 sheet of cardstock.
Side Step card template
Please note – for tonight’s card I have changed one of the measurements on my template below.
Instead of measuring in 8 cm from one side, I measured in 10 cm to allow enough room for my caravan and palm trees. All of the other measurements are the same as below.
Measure in 10 cm from the left (or 8 cm as per the template above) on the 14.8 cm side of your card base and draw a pencil line from top to bottom.
Along this pencil line, measure down 4.5cm from the top of the card stock and measure up 2.5 cm from the base of the card stock. The solid line in between these 2 measurements is your only cutting line for this card – I’ve marked this as a solid black line in my template.
Cut along this solid line, being very careful not to cut above or below this line.
All the other dotted lines are fold lines – measure and score these with your paper trimmer.
Once you’ve scored these lines, rub out the pencil mark along your cut line and fold the score lines. Your card base is now ready to decorate.
Here’s another look what my vintage caravan side step card looks like from the side. It folds flat to fit into a standard C6 Envelope for posting.
Now it’s time to hop on over to our next participant, the lovely Tina Gillespie – I can’t wait to see what Tina has made this week!
If at any time you find a broken link, you can find the complete list of all participants below.
Welcome to week two of our Art with Heart 2022-23 Colour Creations blog hop! We are showcasing each of the 5 new In Colours for the first 5 weeks before we feature our core colours in alphabetical order.
Our second new In Colour is Parakeet Party, a vibrant lime green that is almost fluorescent. This colour screams happy and demands to be noticed!
Here’s what Parakeet Party looks like in comparison to the other current Stampin’ Up! greens – we have so many gorgeous greens to choose from I had to shrink this image down to fit it on the page!
My card today is very quick and easy to make and shows just how gorgeous Parakeet Party looks with blue/green colours. The background is created using three different blending brushes and these three colours: Pool Party at the top, Parakeet Party in the middle and Bermuda Bay at the base.
The palm trees and grass die cut in Basic Black cardstock using the Paradise Palm dies really pop against this vibrant background.
The sentiment is from the Paradise Palm stamp set, heat embossed in white and die cut using a Potted Succulent die. I really enjoy making gender neutral designs because they are so versatile.
This scene takes me back to very happy time, sitting on a Hawaiian Beach and watching the sunset with my boys.
Now it’s time to hop on over to our next participant, the lovely Kathryn Ruddick – I can’t wait to see what Kathryn has made this week!
If at any time you find a broken link, you can find the complete list of all participants below.
