A crabby day at the beach

Impression Obsession's blog and Flower Soft's blog had a joint blog hop this past week so since I'm a big fan of both, I made this card using a couple of their products.

I stamped the main image with dye ink and used colored pencils to color it. I added Flower Soft sand around the crab and highlighted the crab's shell, conch shell, water and lighthouse with a clear Gelly Roll pen. I distressed the edges of the image layer and backed it with a black layer. I layered that to a blue CS layer that I had Cuttled with a Tiny Bubbles ef. All were adhered to a black layer over a white card base. I threaded hemp through three yellow buttons and backed them with pop dots.
Stamps: Crab (Impression Obsession), Inside: My Heart is at Home (Great Impressions )
Paper: CS: White, black and blue
Ink: black dye ink (Memories)
Accessories: Tiny Bubbles e.f. (Cuttlebug), sand (Flower Soft), edge distressing tool, Prismacolor pencils, Gamsol, clear Gelly Roll pen, buttons, pop dots, jute, Fiskars waves border punch (inside), Fiskars paper cutter, Scor-pal.
Size: 5 1/2 x 4 1/4 (A2)

My First Post

This is my first post!  I can't believe we're almost halfway through August. Soon it will be fall and I haven't made that many summer cards yet. I'm so behind in my schedule!

Working with paper is my passion and my plan is to use this blog to inspire me to make more cards using all my art stash. I know hoarding art supplies is a major problem for other card designers, so I'm not alone. This card is one that I made for my friend, Carol, who was leaving on a trip to Greece.  I ended up making two (not identical) and I sent the other one to her before I got a photo taken. The flower was my first attempt at making a tissue paper flower similar to the one in Daniela Dobson's tutorial here.  I have a long way to go before I'll be satisfied with mine.  The main image is colored with Prismas and bIended with baby oil and a stump. I cut the dark brown layer on the main image down to make it fit better and then paper pierced around it. The sentiment is edged with stormy sky distressed ink and then edge distressed:

Stamps: Lounging Around (Sassy Studio Designs digital stamp), Relax & Enjoy Yourself (Impression Obsession)
Paper: DP: Granola (BasicGrey), CS: blue and dark brown
Ink: Black, Soft Baby Blue (Memories), Broken China, Stormy Sky Distress Ink (Ranger)
Accessories: clear embossing powder, Prismacolor colored pencils, odorless mineral spirits, stump, foam adhesive, Spellbinders Labels Six and Small Petite Circles Nestabilities, edge distresser, ink dauber, ribbon, tissue paper flower, brad.
Size: 5 1/2 x 4 1/4 (A2)

This is a card that I made for one of my grandsons for his birthday:

Here's the inside:

Stamps: Simon (Mo's Digital Pencil digital stamp), Computer Generated
Paper: DP: Ambrosia (BasicGrey), CS: white and dark brown
Ink: Black (Memories) Distress Ink (Ranger)
Accessories: Prismacolor colored pencils, baby oil, stump, foam adhesive, Spellbinders Labels, Small Petite Circles and Oval Nestabilities, edge distresser, ink dauber, Sakura GellyRoll pen, brads.
Size: 5 1/2 x 4 1/4 (A2)