Seashells on the Beach - Thanks Card

Seashells on the beach - thanks cards

I found a seashells stamp set in my stash as I was rummaging through. I haven't used it much and remember buying it off trademe second hand as part of a bulk bunch of stamp sets so thought I'd make a couple of cards from it. Also came across the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - the challenge asks for cards in celebration of thanksgiving so I thought, why not create a 'Thanks' card.

You can find a link to the challenge by clicking here

And here is my card process video for this creation:

Firstly, I used Ranger Archival jet black ink to stamp seashell outlines onto 300 gsm white cardstock.

Seashells Stamp Set

Once the ink dried, (you could use a heat tool here to heat set to speed up drying time), I watercolor the shells using distress inks (tumbled glass and crushed olive). By water coloring, I mean I smooshed the pads onto plastic or non-stick paper, added a bit of water using a brush and applied 'paint' to the seashells then fussy cut them out as I didn't seem to have to the coordinating die cut.

Coloured stamped images and distress inks used

For the sentiment, I used  Simon Says Stamp! Thanks 3x4 clear stamp set (SSS101347). This also came in the bulk pack of stamps off trademe. I stamped it onto black paper (shaped like a banner) using a Tsukineko embossing stamp pad then white heat embossed the sentiment using Ranger white embossing powder.

Simon Says Stamp Thanks Stamp Set SSS101347

Note that I use a 'normal' heat gun I found in the garage - it's a Bosch PHG 500-2, it does the trick and melts the embossing powder well enough. I am very careful not to burn the paper by being careful how close the heat gun is to the paper. I probably should by a craft one before the other half finds out I've stashed it with my crafty stuff...!

Heat Embossing Tools

I found a "thanks" die-cut in my stash, which I'm not sure if it is a coordinating die-cut but it does seem to match nicely with it!. I used this die cut to cut thanks out of white cardstock twice and coloured one with my purple marker to act as a shadow.

"thanks" die cut and die cuts

For the background, I blended using distress inks from bottom to top: scattered straw, tumbled glass and shaded lilac onto water colour paper notecard. I drew some clouds on a white piece of paper and cut it out so I had a faux cloud/waves stencil. I then used my sponge dauber with white pigment ink (Stampin' Up kraft in Whisper White) to blend outlines of waves on top of the background.

Tools used to make blended background

To assemble the card, I glued the white thanks on top of purple thanks with a slight offset so the purple thanks looks like a shadow, then glued this to the top of the background. Using double-sided tape, I stuck down the black banner with heat embossed sentiment below the die-cut "thanks." Then I stuck down three of the coloured seashells where the 'sand' meets the 'sea' on the background.

After that, I stuck the notecard to the front of a silver card base, cut down any excess and the card is finished.

Seashells on the Beach - Thanks Card

Check back into this blog post in a few days and I'll have a  you tube video at the top of this blog post showing how I made another 'seashells on the beach' card with similar materials and vellum for the sentiment.

Hope you found this post useful - feel free to ask questions or leave a comment I'd love to hear what you think as I grow and learn more about this new cardmaking hobby of mine.

Happy crafting!

Mel Crafting.