I Heart Beach

Hi everyone my last beach project for the month. I hope you have enjoyed my beach projects. Last month there was a challenge to make an exploding heart card with Summer as the theme. I thought it would be fun to make a card with the ocean as a theme. I thought it would also be fun to cut hearts out of some of my photos.

I started by folding and cutting in a heart shape construction paper which I've had for several years. It was easier to fold than my card stock which is heavier. Then I stamped on scrap construction paper  hearts and heat embossed them.

For the inside I cut hearts out of photos. Then on two of the hearts added the stamped umbrella and the starfish. I stamped on scrap pattern card stock the beach chair and flip flops.

Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!

May Your Day....Beach

Hi everyone we are nearing the end of the Just For Fun Beach challenge. However you still have a week left to join in on the fun. I like sometimes using my own photos and when I go to the ocean which if I'm lucky is once a year I take scads of photos.  Alas my last trip I forgot to charge up my camera battery before going so ended up having to use my phone. The light was too low  to get a sunset photo that wasn't grainy so I decided to use this photo for my background. I love how it worked with the beach umbrella stamp.

I had wanted to use the spiral sun but the stamp was too large to use along with the sentiment. The sentiment and beach umbrella is stamped on deli paper with Stazon ink. I tore the paper to give more of the look of clouds or even waves.  The sand and umbrella were colored with pencils and then cut out by hand.

The frame was cut out of scrap calligraphy paper and paper clips used at the corner. I thought the spiral copper paper clips would be perfect.

Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!

Autumn Greetings

Hi everyone I just got back from vacation. Over a week of camping and putting more miles on my ancient Jeep. Since my friend was working at the camp site I spent some time coloring with pencils stamped images and stamped the sentiment for this card. I was only wishing I had brought along some darker ink. I did the background before leaving for vacation. It was a lot of fun to do using the Hot Boss Embossing tool which a friend gave me a few years back and crayons. Then using my embossing machine and liquid gold after I embossed.

The Hot Boss comes with different tips. I used the triangle groove tip to melt different crayons on my card stock. Then used the tip to smooth the crayon and blend the colors. If you don't have a Hot Boss but have a wood burning tool you can melt your crayons that way and probably then blend and smooth with a metal palette knife. After the wax from the crayons cooled I ran my card through my embossing machine using a Darice folder. In a few places where the wax was the thickest some of the wax came off on the folder but was easy to clean off. I then brushed on Precious Metal in a gold color and wiped some of it off while still wet since the crayons did not act as a total resist.

I'm not sure what the name is for the Just For Fun Rubber stamp. I stamped it on yellow card with cactus green Stazon ink. The image was colored with pencils and then cut out by hand.

The Hot Boss can be found here: http://www.adornit.com/index.cfm/store/product.cfm?product=749 I don't know what shipping costs but the price is reasonable. I did notice on Amazon there is a book out with ideas for using it.

There you have it my crafting fix while camping. As well as my using a tool which had been gathering dust in at least for me a new way.

Just a reminder that the Sand In Our Toes challenge is still going on. I would love to see your creations.

Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!

Under The Sea

With this month's challenge over at the Just For Fun Rubber Stamp blog being the beach/seashore I thought I would do a under the sea card. I love all the fantastic beach/seashore stamps they have so I went a little crazy. ;-) Some people left their heart in San Francisco but I left mine at the ocean.

I started by air brushing my ocean and the bottom of the ocean with Spectrum Noir markers. Then I took a seashell stencil and gold almost a ink paint. (Didn't realize how thin the medium was but am out of gold paint.)

Painted green metallic paint on paper designed for acrylic paint. Then cut out my vegetation using Spellbinders corner sprig dies.

I decided to stamp the large Just For Fun Large Seahorse on deli paper.  There is also a medium and small so a person could have a family. The great thing about stamping on deli paper is that the image will probably be crisp on the other side so you can reverse the image if you don't like the direction the stamp faces.

I looked at pictures of seahorses and saw some purple ones. I decided to color on the back with color pencils and then in places on the front to deepen the color.  Coloring on the back will to a certain extent mute the colors. It will also give a softer colored look so it depends on what effect you want.

On top I layered clear plastic from a page protector which I added drops of Dimensional Magic for bubbles. I discovered that creating drops with Tombow adhesive to adhere the plastic to the cardstock that you really have to look close to see where I glued the plastic down.

I hope you will join in the fun over at the Just For Fun Rubber Stamps blog. Thank you for stopping by. Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!

New Month New Challenge Beach

Hi everyone it is a new month and a new challenge. This month the challenge is beach/seashore. If you have been following me you know I usually do cards but this time I got out of my comfort zone and did something different. I changed the theme in my living room from butterflies to ocean so created a 8 x 10 piece. I love this piece sitting with my lighthouse water globe and a couple of shells I've collected over the years.

Here is the reveal!

I started by spraying copy paper with adhesive and then covered the copy paper with white tissue wrapping paper. Normally I would make sure there were no wrinkles but this time I didn't care. Next was to take my photo of the sea gulls on the sand and print it. It is times like this that I wish I had a larger printer.

Once I adhered my print the fun began with stamping, coloring, cutting out, ect. I had to change some of my ideas along the way but that is the fun of doing something like this for yourself. I used the sentiment "Down by the Seashore where life is a little easier" So I wanted my piece to reflect that.

 I thought about what things I like to do when I visit the ocean. Things like collecting seashells and walking along the beach marveling at sand castle creations. As well as watching people play volleyball and occasionally being allowed to join in. Lol! (The other team snickers if a team allows me to play with them until I start playing. I have a mean serve. )

I took a piece of produce netting which I had laundered because it was sticky. It came out soft and with a little bit of a frayed look. Since I didn't like the green I airbrushed using a marker. I then cut a thin craft stick and glued the net to it. I found a clipart of the volleyball so printed and cut it out.  My friend said it looks like the one sea gull is ready to go play.

I love collecting shells and have actually found starfish in tide pools. This star fish along with the sand castle are stamped on adhesive cork. I think you can still find the 6 x 6 packs of it. The sand dollar is stamped on sandpaper. It was the only stamp I could get a good impression on.

Both the empty chair and flip flops are stamped on pattern card stock. I don't usually stamp on pattern card stock so it was fun to use it that way.

Originally I was going to place the woman drinking in the empty chair but didn't like how she looked. Besides I figured it was bad feng shui to have a single woman in the picture. This way there is a chair for someone to join whether a new friend or a new relationship.  The woman is clipart I found. It is easy in a software program to rotate if an image is facing the wrong way.

The umbrella is stamped on clear plastic. I was too lazy to do all the cutting as well as wasn't sure what direction I wanted the umbrella to face.  By stamping on clear plastic you can change the direction of an image. I colored with Sharpies on the back side.

The two shells on the sentiment were actually stamped on a scrap of the paper used for the sentiment. After stamping with Stazon I mixed Perfect Pearl in Iridescent Medium and brushed it on. The only thing you have to be careful about is you don't brush the medium on so heavy that you obscure the stamping.

I left my heart at the seashore but this way I can visit whenever I want. Even if it is just in memories.

Do you ever get to the seashore? What type of things do you like to do?

Thank you for stopping by. I hope you will join in the challenge. Details can be found here: http://justforfunrubberstamps.blogspot.com/2016/08/august-challenge-sand-in-our-toes.htmlUntil next time wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!