Flip Flops and Sunshine!

(ETA: Sorry this is late. Don’t you hate it when a scheduled post doesn’t post???) (ETA 2: See tip at the bottom for some exciting Copic info!!)

This week for Crazy 4 Challenges, we were asked to make a card with a summer destination theme! Yeah, I could make summer cards all year round (and sometimes I do!!!) BEACH BABY!Yeah!

I recently got some new dies from Echo Park including this lovely retro swimsuit and flamingo! Aren’t they so fun! I also won a $20 gift certificate to Avery Elle and after much difficult decision making (have you seen their website?? It’s da bomb dot com!!) and throwing a few extra bucks into the mix, I came away with some amazing products including the sweet Bunting stamps and dies!

The background paper is from Summer Dreams also by Echo Park. This paper is so pretty I decided to make an oversized card (4.5x5.75” I think) so maximize it’s gorgeousness. Around the edges I used a tracing wheel and a gel pen to create some faux stitching. If you’ve never seen one, it looks like this…

Photo Credit

You can get them at any sewing store but they do come smooth too, for finer, thinner fabrics, so be careful which one you buy. I’ve also got one with less defined teeth and they won’t pierce paper so check the ones you see and get the wickedest looking teeth you can get! Use a foam mat under the paper and when you are done, you can sew by hand if you wish or just trace the line with a gel pen! If you prefer zigzags, just run a second line of holes next to the first and connect them with a ziggy line!

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Isn’t that banner so cute!? The die set comes with a super fine ‘string’ for hanging all of the cute bunting bits. I glued my twine to it to get a really nice arc in it. The circle die cut is Triple Tear from Spellbinders which I sponged with some matching inks. Well, actually I inked first and cut second! The flamingo, glasses and swimsuit are all sponged lightly along their edges to help them stand out more. For the wing, I used the negative die cut as a stencil! It was the perfect shape!

The legs and beak were coloured with Copics. This busy mama ain’t got no time for cutting in multiple colours when I can help it! Ditto for the glasses, that’s turquoise paper under the dark brown lenses (I know, it looks black). I even did that with the word panels. I’d planned to piece in some coloured cardstock but when the die didn’t cut all the way through, I just decided to carefully ink the letters with a Copic marker. Worked out really well and it was faster too! No piecing those tiny letters and especially the even tinier centers of some letters! At the end, I added a bit of white gel pen on the flamingo and sunglasses. Swimsuits aren’t very shiny so I left the gel pen off. A couple of matching sequins and I was all set for the beach!

TIP: Did you guys know that Copic just came out with a fine tip nib for the Sketch marker? I KNOW RIGHT??? I bought 5 packs (of 3) that very same day! Get them at Imagination International. The email I got said supply was limited so hurry on over!

I hope you can play along with the challenge this week at Crazy 4 Challenges. When a lot of people play it just makes all our hard work seem worthwhile! Come on over and join!

Enjoy, Rebecca