Summer by the Sea and Seaside Sketches

I love these two stamp sets by SU! They're feminine but not cutesy, and the lend themselves well to almost any colour choices. The instructions here work for any of the four cards.

Supplies

Cardstock: 5-1/2" x 4-1/4" Whisper White CS
2 pieces of 2" x 5-3/8" coloured CS for colour panels (I used Ruby Red, Barely Banana, and Bashful Blue

Scraps of coloured CS to mat your stamp (I used Bashful Blue, Perfectly Plum, Ruby Red, and Certainly Celery)

Whisper White CS (for stamping)

Ink: Basic Black ink pad

Stamps: Seaside Sketches and Summer by the Sea

Other: clear embossing powder

heat gun
watercolour pencil crayons

blender pens

Directions

Score the Whisper White CS at 2-1/4" from each short end. Fold the sides together. They should meet in the middle, making a gatefold card.

Adhere the 2 pieces of coloured CS to each 'gate' of your card. If you want to add texture, use a background stamp and VersaMark ink before adhering, or use the scoring blade of your paper trimmer to create a grid pattern.

*Note: on one card, I used Bashful Blue CS for the base and only added one panel (in scored Barely Banana) to the left hand panel.

Stamp your image onto Whisper White CS. Emboss with clear embossing powder.

Colour your image with the watercolour pencil crayons. You don't have to cover every little bit; the blender pens will 'carry' the colour. I like to layer my colours a bit; for example, I use a light brown with just a touch of red for skin tones, and yellow and brown for hair. The wonderful thing about watercolour pencil crayons is that you can customize your image for the recipient of the card, matching hair colour and skin tones.

'Paint' over the coloured image with the blender pens, making sure to clean the tip between colours.

Cut out your image. I usually just 'eyeball' it, since the trimmer ensures perfectly square corners.

Measure your cut out image. Add 1/4" to each measurement and cut out a mat from coloured CS. Mount the image on the mat.

Mount the mat on your card. Careful, you can only adhere one half of the image or you won't be able to 'open' the gate!