Saturday 4 January 2014

Just Beachy

It's been a while since I participated in the challenges over at SUO Challenges, so I thought I'd put that top of my list today.

The challenge is Colors of January.  For me, that means summer, beaches, sand, surf - I'm sure you get the idea...:)

So, here's the card I created depicting my colors of January.  This card is quite similar to one I made back in July 2012.  I just added a bit more to this one:



I'm not 100% happy with this card.  I think it would have looked better if the sponged strip was wider and the tag was only sponged to match the strip, if you can understand that?  Anyway, I wasn't going to do it again, so this is it.

I masked off a strip on a Whisper White card base then cut a Whisper White tag and temporarily adhered it over the mask and into the area to be sponged.  I sponged River Rock and Crumb Cake for the sand, Pool Party for the ocean and Baja Breeze for the horizon.  I dotted white gel pen to imitate waves.  The shells were stamped onto some Shimmery White paper and colored with markers and inkpads.  



I used several colors on these shells which come from a very old set called Stipple Shells.  I started with a base of River Rock, then added Crumb Cake, Wisteria Wonder, Pool Party and Crisp Cantaloupe.

The tag is layered onto another Whisper White piece then popped up on dimensionals.  The sentiment comes from Express Yourself, although I did do some surgery and cut off the "always" at the beginning.

Thanks for looking.

Products used (all Stampin' Up!):

Stamps:  Stipple Shells, Up & Away, Express Yourself
Ink:  River Rock, Crumb Cake, Wisteria Wonder, Pool Party, Crisp Cantaloupe, Baja Breeze, Basic Black
Cardstock:  Whisper White, Shimmery White
Accessories:  sponges, white gel pen, linen thread

Edited to Add:  This card was a Top Pick at SUO Challenges.

Cheers
Karren

14 comments:

Bonnie said...

I think this is perfect just the way it is! What a wonderful mix of colors and I love how the tag carries on the image!

Narelle Farrugia said...

Gorgeous! So creative to carry your sponged scene over to the tag - love this card Karren!

Anonymous said...

love the colors

Loll said...

I LOVE this Karren. It's amazing and I'm glad you explained how you did it, because I was looking at it and trying to figure how you did it ... I had a very complicated idea and now that you've explained, it makes way more sense :) Anyways, LOVE the color combination, the design ... actually LOVE everything. Loll xx

Christine Blain said...

Karren, this is fabulous!! I love how you've 'matched' the sponging on the tag to the sponged strip, and the colours are gorgeous. The addition of twine just adds to the 'beachy' feel; love it.

Scrappy Géri said...

Your card is amazing! It looks gorgeous and I love it just like that :)
X Geri

Anonymous said...

Karren, this is gorgeous! I think the strip size is perfect! It's perfectly balanced with the amount of white space. LOVE it! Thanks for joining us at SUO Challenges!

Bronwyn Eastley said...

We are our own worst critic! I absolutely love the colours you chose for the SUO theme as well as the gorgeous layout. Thanks for playing along. PS: it's pinned :)

Susan Joyce said...

Gorgeous and definitely cased!

Designs With Paper said...

I really like how the card turned out! And I totally understand the not liking the end result. It's beautiful!

Karen Barber said...

This is STUNNING, no IDEA why you aren't thrilled with it!!!!!!

Connie Babbert said...

Sorry...I LOVE it! I wouldn't change a thing! Great job! I wish the beach meant January around here...lol!

Narelle Farrugia said...

Congrats to you too my friend! Don't know why you're not 100% happy with this card as everyone else loves it!

nwilliams6 said...

Love this card! Awesome work - I cased it for the FS challenge at SCS - where you are the FS this week. Lovely work!