StampNation Beach Vacation – Coming Soon!

Save the date!  Starting Sunday, there’s a week-long Summer Beach Vacation planned at StampNation  July 20-26. Join the fun of daily beach-vacation themed prompts, inspiration from the StampNation Dream Team and Guests (I’m thrilled to be one of them), and prizes from Lawn Fawn, Ellen Hutson, and Pretty Pink Posh! This vacation kicks off on Sunday 9am EDT with a blog hop.

Not familiar with StampNation? It’s a wonderful online community of fellow stampers. Members have access to hundreds of video tutorials, a gallery, challenges, message boards and so much more. Check it out and be inspired!

Click here to join and learn about StampNation membership benefits!

Stamp Nation Challenge: Fruits and Veggies

The most recent challenge at Stamp Nation is to use Fruits and/or Veggies on a card in celebration of all summer has to offer! This challenge had me stumped for a while, until I noticed that I had more supplies that fit this theme than I realized!

LemonadeLawnFawn

I stamped the Lawn Fawn Make Lemonade set with Memento ink on Gina K cardstock and colored the images with Copics in blues and yellows. I discovered some Little Yellow Bicycle patterned paper in my stash that I’ve had for several years. The sentiment is from the Penny Black Friendship set.

Best Mate – Stamp Nation Sketch Challenge

There’s a new sketch challenge over at Stamp Nation and I’m playing along with another nautical card.

Best Mate - Stamp Nation Sketch Challenge

Once I chose my sentiment, from Stampin’ Up’s Hello, Sailor set, the rest of the card was easy to pull together. The paper banners were cut from Carta Bella’s Ahoy patterned paper with MFT Fishtail Flag dies. The anchor was cut with a WPlus9 Design die from brushed silver cardstock. I stamped the MFT woodplank stamp with Hero Arts Soft Brown Shadow Ink on Stampin’ Up Crumb Cake cardstock. This is definitely a sketch I’ll revisit!

Supplies: Stampin’ Up Night of Navy ink; Stampin’ Up Hello, Sailor stamp set

You Drive Me Wild

Today, I’m sharing a “just for fun” card using the Lawn Fawn “Happy Trails” stamp set and matching die cut.

YouDriveMeWild

I haven’t Copic-colored for a long time and practiced my coloring on the cars. I used Gina K Design’s Pure Luxury cardstock, on the recommendation of some Stamp Nation members, and I definitely liked the results. I used color combinations from Sharon Harnist. Her Copic FAQ page is a fabulous resource!
Supplies: Spellbinders die (rectangle); Gina K Design’s Pure Luxury cardstock

You Anchor Me

Kristie Goulet of the Stamp Nation team regularly posts about paper crafting trends sharing tips, tutorials and projects! Kristie wrote about the nautical trend last year, when it was really at its high point. As a member, I can access those past articles. Even if the trend has cooled somewhat, I still enjoy making nautical-themed cards, especially in the summer.

AnchorWornLipstick

To create the coral striped background, I inked the Impression Obsession Thick Stripes background stamp with Distress Ink and misted it until the ink pooled. The anchor is cut from a brushed gold cardstock.

AnchorMintBlue
As long as I was making one card, I decided to make another with a little variation! I heat embossed the Impression Obsession background stamp with gold embossing powder. The anchor is cut from a gold foil cardstock.

I’m also entering the second card in the Card Concept “Use A Nautical Theme” challenge. My style is Clean and Graphic.

Supplies: