Summer is almost here, and in anticipation of a heatwave AAA Cards‘ latest challenge is to make a clean and simple card on the theme of ‘everything beach’. I’m a little more of a pragmatist, live in the UK and anticipate foul weather when I go to the coast. Foregoing buckets and spades and fancy parasols, I found this previously unused stamp deep in my stash and created this:

It has all the elements of a lovely summer’s day at the beach. It’s just on this particular day it’s a bit stormy… I used the stamp block illustration for my colour scheme, building it up with ProMarkers. The matting is outlined with one of the same pens to ensure it coordinates with the main image. The rain is dry-brushed white acrylic paint using a fan brush – I needed something parallel and opaque. I also needed lots of practice to get the right density and angle. The design was promoted as a sympathy card, but the sentiment seems perfect for any time of stress.

Used for this beach themed card

• Stamps Happen, Inc. wood mounted rubber stamp: Through The Storm [#80219] by D Morgan
• Memento ink pad: Tuxedo Black
• Ryman 200gsm Bright White Coated Card
• Letraset/ Winsor & Newton ProMarkers:
  • Ice Grey 1-5
  • Grey Green, Tea Green
  • Holly, Olive Green
  • Caramel, Satin
  • Lemon
• White acrylic paint
• Stix2 Anything stencil tape
• 7×7″ card blank