Tropical Paradise

In addition to the all of the new and carry over items in the 2010-2011 Idea Book and Catalog, don't forget the Summer Mini Catalog also has great products for sale until August 31st. The Tropical Party stamp set is one of my favorites. I have used it for most of my summer birthday cards and it is great for making invitations too. Add a brayer technique and you come up with a great beach picture. Can you picture yourself here on the beach? Oh, I can - just hand me a cold drink with a little umbrella in it and let the relaxing begin.




To make the background:

You need a brayer, ink, and Glossy White cardstock. You can brayer over regular cardstock, but I find that the glossy works best.

Step 1: Take a post-it note and tear it in half saving both halves. Place one half on the bottom where you want your sand.

Step 2: To make they sky - Ink your brayer with Bashful Blue ink and roll it over the entire area above your torn post it note.Re-ink your brayer with Not Quite Navy and roll it where you want to see a change in the horizon. Re-ink your brayer with Night of Navy and roll it near the top. Clean your brayer using your Stampin' Mist and re-ink with Bashful Blue and roll it over the entire sky to soften and blend the three colors.

Step 3: Take the other half of the torn post it note and place it over the bottom portion of the sky. Ink your brayer with Sahara Sand ink and roll it over the entire bottom. Re-ink your brayer with Early Espresso and roll where you want to show contrast. Clean your brayer and re-ink with Sahara Sand again and roll over the entire bottom to blend the colors

Step 4: Using Black StazOn Ink stamp your trees on the sand. Let this layer dry for a few minutes and then matte with a piece of regular white cardstock.


I layered all of this on a piece of Sahara Sand cardstock that I embossed using the Square Lattice embossing folder and finished off with a piece of Basic Black grosgrain ribbon. To make the sentiment stand out on the Basic Black cardstock I used white embossing powder and my heat tool.


Stamping Tip: When using your brayer make sure to ink the whole brayer. The ink pads are a little smaller than the width of the brayer so you need to run it over the ink pad a few times for full coverage. And have fun experimenting with it. You can come up with so many different color variations and backgrounds to create one of a kind projects.


To make today's card I used the following:Cardstock: Sahara Sand #121043, Basic Black #121045, Whisper White #100730, Glossy White #102599
Ink: StazOn Black #101406, Sahara Sand #105208, Early Espresso #110670, Bashful Blue #105209, Night of Navy #102977, Not Quite Navy #103008
Stamp Set: Tropical Party #118515 wood mount, #120081 clear mount (Summer-Mini), Sincere Salutations #115068
Ribbon: Basic Black Grosgrain #115605
Punch: Extra Large Oval #119859
Accessories: Brayer #102395, Big Shot Machine #113439, Square Lattice Embossing Folder #119976, White Embossing Powder #109132, Heat Tool #100005