Dreaming of Beaches

My friend retired last week whilst working alone at home which must have been a weird way to end 35 years with the same employer, so I wanted to make her a card to celebrate.  She loves to travel and her favourite place is Costa Rica so I made her a beach scene using my favourite ever Colour Layering set from Hero Arts - Colour Layering Waves which is so easy but provides the perfect beachy backdrop!

I started with the waves stamp and used 3 blue oxide inks started pale for the background and getting darker as the stamps get smaller.   I also stamped the base layer onto post-it tape so I could create a mask so I oculd create the beach and sky.  I did this with more oxides (all should be back in stock this week along with the new colours!).   For the beach a used a soft yellow base with a blending tool to get some all over colour but then to give the effect of the tide lapping I used linnen over the top direct to paper and just swiped down in th straight lines from the sea edge.

For the skey I masked off a semi circle for the sun and then using a blending tool used pink, orange, yellow and blue to create the sunset.

To add details I used a couple of sets - the co-ordinating Colour Layering Sun, Sea and Sky stamp from Hero Arts and Paradise Palms from Newton's Nook all just stamped with Versafine Clair in black apart from the footprints which were stamped in the same yellow as the beach.

The sentiment is from a Waffle Flower crafts stamp set but has sold out since I used it, I'll try and get it back in stock with the new release which will be coming soon.  I think a beach scene would be fun for birthdays too as so many of us are longing for holidays we're not getting this year!

NEWS FROM THE STORE

I am behind on adding products and ordering this week - we got a rush on orders with the deliveries last week and I always prioritise getting orders out to you over everything else, particularly as they are taking longer to get through the mail system so I don't want you waiting when you've handed over your cash!

So I will be working most of the day today to try and catch up a bit.

In Store this week

• Reverse Confetti's new release and some restocks;

• Colorado Craft Company's last two releases and some restocks;

• Mama Elephant's upcoming release (tomorrow) and some restocks;

• 6 boxes of restocks from Ranger including the new colour.

Shipping to us this week:

• Avery Elle's upcoming release and some restocks (sorry no large storage pockets as they are out of stock at their end)

• Concord and 9ths current release and some restocks

Coming Soon:

• Stamping Bella's new release which is a stamp only release as they no longer do dies;

• Altenew's latest releases

• Waffle Flower Craft's new release which includes enamel dots to match their recent paper packs.

• Lawn Fawn's new release but this has been put back a week as Kelly had a baby recently.

That's all for now - back to work!

Tara