By The Sea

Hello, once again.  I spent a few days this summer by at the beach.  Well, it's really not the beach...I'm not a big fan of sand, but the area where we live has an inlet to get from the lagoon out into the Atlantic.  This inlet has a tide pool and I love to go there.  There are picnic tables, and the tide pool never gets very deep, so it's the perfect place for children.  And as an added bonus, sometimes manatees come to swim. These gentle giants are protected, so you can't actually touch them, but they get pretty close sometimes.  We usually take a lunch and make it a day.

Pelicans sitting on the rocks

We have a canopy over the picnic table and our chair near the water.  Very relaxing.

So, with all this beach inspiration, I want to share a card I made during my stamping time recently.

The palm tree stamp is from My Paper Moon, and the beach and water and sky are hand colored. with Copics.  Glitter added to the water to show the light reflection.

Hope you are having a great day today.

Christmas Cards

Good afternoon! Hope all is well in your little corner of the world.

Here is a sort-of Christmas card. At least it's an idea. I love this painter elf, and use him quite a bit. You could have him painting a Christmas background, or change the colors of his clothing and have him painting Easter eggs, or birthday backgrounds...the possibilities are endless. I stamped him and masked him before stamping the background stamp. The more paper you leave around the elf, the more background you will mask, leaving an area the elf hasn't painted. The elf is available from http://www.mypapermoon.com. Just type painter in the search box.

Isn't he fun?

Being in Florida, I couldn't have Christmas without some "Florida-style" cards. Here is one of my favorites...



The stamp is from The Angel Company, and is stamped on acetate. It's colored with markers and paint and layered on crushed aluminum foil. I love the colors...flamingo colors, and this card would be perfect for children or grandchildren.

One more Florida-style card:



This one is also done using the painted foil technique. I love the lights on the palm tree, which I colored and then added crystal lacquer to make them shiny and have texture. This stamp is also from The Angel Company.

I'll be back soon with more Christmas cards to share.