One of the best parts of living where I do in Nova Scotia is the amazing views over the bay.  No matter what the season I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of seeing them.  Mind you right now there’s large chunks of ice floating by so it definitely needs to warm up.  Still, it’s the perfect inspiration, and when I saw the Oceanfront Stamp Set I knew it was meant to be.  But while I don’t have a strictly oceanfront view this sunset scene is quite a familiar sight.

OCEANFRONT IN 3 STEPS

Creating a basic scene using the Oceanfront Stamp Set is actually very simple. The stamps are a style called ‘DistINKtive’ which gives them areas of light and shade. The ‘trick’ though is to make sure that your ink pad isn’t too juicy. Too much ink and the detail becomes lost. One of the easiest ways to avoid this is to apply the ink to the surface of the stamp using a Sponge Dauber. It just so happens that’s also how to create a colourful sunset sky.

I began with a 3-5/8″ x 4-5/8″ piece of Basic White Card and the largest stamp from the Oceanfront Stamp Set. Using a Sponge Dauber I first dabbed a layer of Daffodil Delight ink over the bottom half of the stamp. Then I changed to Mango Melody ink and added colour across the centre section of the stamp, overlapping the first colour a little. Finally across the top of the stamp I added Pumpkin Pie ink and blended that in with the Mango Melody.

The Oceanfront Stamp Set is made from see-through photopolymer which meant that if I held the stamp over some white paper I could look through it and see where I’d applied the colour. This way if I wasn’t happy I could adjust it before stamping. Once I was sure, I breathed onto the surface of the stamp to re-moisten the ink, and stamped the image towards the top of the Basic White Card piece.

Next came the sea but that was much simpler. This time I used a Sponge Dauber and just Bermuda Bay ink. Looking through the stamp I lined up the straight edge of the ‘water’ with the bottom of the sky.

Below the water I needed a bit of ‘land’ and there’s a stamp for that in the Oceanfront Stamp Set too. This time I just tapped the stamp onto my Old Olive ink pad as it wasn’t too wet. As before I looked through the stamp then lined up the more solid edge with the angled edge of the ‘water’.

SIMPLE LAYERS

To complete the scene I took the two smallest ‘grass’ images and stamped them onto the ‘ground’ using Early Espresso ink.

For my project coordination I stayed with the ‘ground’ and grass stamps. Using Old Olive ink I stamped the ground at the bottom of a 4″ x 5-1/4″ piece of Basic White Card. Then I added the two grass images with Early Espresso ink as before. I’d use this layer to line my card base. Then I stamped the ground and grass on the front of a Basic White Medium Envelope.

Now I was ready to move on and for that I wanted a sentiment from the Celebrating You Stamp Set. I chose “The best is yet to come” and stamped it directly onto the sky using Early Espresso ink.

Putting the card together was a quick process. I began by using my Paper Trimmer to cut and score some Old Olive Card. To create the card base I simply folded the along the scored line and sharpened the crease with a Bone Folder. Then using Multipurpose Liquid Glue (Tombow) I fixed the larger Basic White layer to the inside.

Next I cut a 3-3/4″ x 4-3/4″ layer of Bermuda Bay Card and mounted the scene piece onto it with more liquid glue. Then I attached the assembled piece to the card front with Stampin’ Dimensionals and my project was complete.

Once again I’m blown away by how quick and easy it is to create a card using the Oceanfront Stamp Set. There’s more images in the set and my plan is to experiment with them next. In the meantime, if you missed my first Oceanfront project you’ll find it in my blog post Oceanfront for a quick and easy card.

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