Sailing Away

Hello lovelies! 

Week four of social distancing. I'm doing far better than I was two weeks ago. No shower crying and TONS of house projects being done. 

I've loved seeing how all of my artist friends and cardmaking friends are chugging along in creative land and using this time to create beautiful things in the midst of chaos. 

And I love how all the crafting companies are coming together to build community. One such company is Paper Anthology. They're giving four challenge prompts per day and hosting nightly zoom calls! You can participate in some or all of their challenges. 

 

One of the challenges today especially caught my eye. Can you tell why? I dusted off my Distress Inks and even threw in a Distress Oxide and used the smooshing technique to create a watery background full of inky depth. 

After everything dried, I added in a little bit of Picket Fence Distress Spray Stain (don't mind the terribly messy bottle - inky fingers are a real thing). 

I stamped a ship from the STAMPlorations True North set in Blueprint Sketch. 

 One of the reasons I like Distress Inks so much is because you can use them in so many ways - like watercoloring! I just wet my brush and pulled in the blue stamped edges to add some shading. 

 Then I smooshed some Vintage Photo Distress Ink onto a craft mat and picked it up with my paintbrush to color in the woody part of the ship.

I made some waves using the STAMPlorations A Ton of Fun stamp set and then added sentiment to finish it all up.  

I'm hoping to join in one of the Zoom calls on Sunday so maybe I'll see some of your smiling faces there!

Sailing Away - Stamped Beach Card

Are you looking for a challenge to float your boat? Well Fusion can do the trick for you! Today, I'm showing off a little number I made inspired by the new inspiration image and sketch from Fusion. 

If you haven't played along at Fusion, it's super easy! Just choose either the sketch or the inspiration image to inspire your card, OR you can mash 'em together and use both! 

In this case, I chose to play the mash 'em up game and combine both this inspiration image and sketch. I don't really have many beachy themed stamps, so I pulled out this sketchy ship from the STAMPlorations True North stamp set.

I made some cute little waves by using the Stitched Snow Hills CUTplorations dies. and then I stamped my ship. I paper pieced the boat's wood, and then added some vellum over the sails, which helped to delineate the sails from the white background.

I finished the look by adding a swath of cute patterned paper and stamping a sentiment from the Verve Rise Above stamp set.

I'm going to also play along in the following challenges:
Paperminutes - In the/By the Sea
2 Sisters on the Blog - Beach Theme

Sailing Away - Fusion Challenge

Sailing, sailing, sailing. Somewheeeeeere. Beyond the seeeeeeeeaaaaaa. 

*warning: brief-but-entertaining off-topic tangent ahead*

Do you want to know what that song always brings to mind? Back in my junior high days I realllllly wanted to lose some weight (hah... if I was only that skinny now) and this was pre-Netflix, Hulu, Youtube workout video on demand.  My mom had this old copy of Richard Simmons Sweatin' to the Oldies and my sister and I would clamber off the school bus and watch good ol' Richard in is upper-thigh-baring 70s track shorts and try to do our best follow along. Beyond the sea was always my fave song, because it meant we were cooling down and the VCR tape was almost done. 

Haha - good memories!

BUT the real reason we're all here is for a card, yes? 

Before I show off the finished design, check out that faaaabulous inspiration image & sketch from Fusion this fortnight (pssstt...... I'm just learning now that fortnight means two weeks. I always thought it was a fancy way of saying month, but NOPE. I feel so British when I say it, too. Try it! And then have some tea and crumpets.)

Woops... I didn't warn you about that tangent. 

If you haven't played along at Fusion before, I love it because you can choose either the sketch OR the inspiration image, or you can mash the two together (which is what I chose to do). 

Mix and matching patterns anyone? Thanks to Simon Says Stamp's Sailing Away set and coordinating papers, I was able to do just that with ease!

The inspiration image made me use all those different stripes and patterns, and if you squint you can see a little ship on the countertop. I also used the sketch as a base for my design. 

I'm also going to play along with the following awesome challenges:
Sisterhood of Crafters - Destination/Travel
Use Your Stuff - Use a Sketch of your choice
Come and Get It - It's in the Male 

Well that's all for me today, folks! I hope you take time to go see what the rest of my Fusion Friends did and then play along yourself!!