Life is a Beach - Smiling Octopus

Life is a Beach - Octopus Card

This is the final card in my Life is a Beach series using the Cricut cartridge by the same name. I used the Maritime Designer Series Paper from Stampin' Up (2014-2015) and the octopus is found on p. 54 of the Life is a Beach cartridge, cut at 2 inches. I layered a white cut-out behind the blue in the same size just by offsetting it a little bit.

Card base is navy, cut at 4-1/4 x 11 inches and folded in half. Patterned paper is cut at 4-1/8 x 5-1/4 inches. I cut the circles behind the octopus at 2-1/2" (navy blue), 2-3/4" (red), and 3 inches (white). I inked the edges of the white circle in navy. I cut some star fish out of red using the cut from p. 65 and tied a piece of thick white twine around the card front. I thought this gave it a little nautical touch.

This was a very simple card to make. I like using patterned paper because you can get ideas just from the paper and the pattern dictates the card design, and I love the color combination of this paper. It made my other choices easy. Sometimes you just need something simple!

Finished card is 4-1/4 x 5-1/2 inches, top folding. I didn't add a greeting yet so my options are open for whatever kind of card I need. I think I'll see if I have a "smile" stamp. That would be a good one!

Summer is ending and so is this series. Come back next week to see what I have planned for my next series. Enjoy the rest of your summer!

Life is a Beach - Little Mermaid

Life is a Beach - Little Mermaid

This is Card #3 in my Life is a Beach series using the Cricut cartridge by the same name. I used the little mermaid on p. 42, cut at 3 inches. The wave piece at the bottom is cut on the border setting at 1 inch ( p. 45) and you end up with a  4 inch long piece. The colors for my card are calypso coral, mint macaron and very vanilla from Stampin' Up.

I used the By the Shore DSP from Stampin' Up for the background and the circle behind the little mermaid. The circles are cut at 3" and 3-3/8". There are several circle cuts on various Cricut cartridges, or you can use dies or punches. 

I inked the edges and markings on the mermaid's fin and added some Wink of Stella to the lines as well as to her bodice piece. I also added a rhinestone to the flower in her hair.  The star fish can be found on p. 63. 

The "happy birthday" greeting is from And Many More, also from Stampin' Up, now retired.

Finished card is 4-1/4" x 5-1/2, side folding. The patterned paper layer is 4" x 5-1/4" and the mint macaron layer is 4-1/8" x 5-3/8".

This would be a sweet card for any little girl in your life. I have a few in mind that I think would love this card! I'll be back next week with the last card in the series.



Life is a Beach - Pink Flamingo

This is the second card in my Life is a Beach Cricut cartridge series. I made a similar flamingo card earlier this summer using a flamingo stamp, but this time I used a cut from the Life is a Beach Cricut cartridge on p. 46.

I cut the flamingo at 2-1/2 inches, cutting out two body layers.  On the second one, I cut away the winged portion, inked the edges, and attached it on top of the original body layer to give it more dimension. The flamingo itself is cut from a lighter shade of pink so the legs were a different color from the body, and then I cut it a second time in black to get the beak, so all in all, I have 4 layers.

The palm leaves are found on p. 37 and I cut them at 1-1/2 and 2 inches, inking the edges in white, and attaching them behind the layered circles. The white circle is cut at 2-1/2 inches and the black circle is cut at 2-3/4 inches, both cut from circle dies, then added to the card with dimensionals.

I added some punched out flowers with the Martha Stewart flower punch in shades of pink and white, inking the edges, adding a dot of black to the centers, and then I stamped the birthday greeting from the Tin of Cards stamp set by Stampin Up (one of my absolute favorites). I added a small strip of washi tape at the top from Recollections. 

I am so into the black and white striped look and am always on the lookout for black and white striped papers. I actually can't tell you which brand this is because I have a collection of different brands. The striped paper was layered on top of a black layer and then onto the white card base.

Finished card size is 4-1/4 x 5-1/2. I didn't add any extra "bling" so it could easily be mailed, but you could add sequins, rhinestones, etc. if you wanted to bling it up!

Have a good week and I will be back next week for card #3!

Life is a Beach - Kissing Fish

I'm starting a Life is a Beach series of cards featuring the Life is a Beach Cricut cartridge. I made this kissing fish card as an anniversary card.

The card is an A2 card (5-1/2 x 4-1/4 inches), top folding, with layers each cut 1-4 inch smaller than the last. The blue cardstock is the new Dapper Denim from Stampin' Up, as is the ombre looking DSP (By the Shore). The waves were cut from the same paper suite, using waves from Life is a Beach, p. 45. The fish are found on p. 53 and are cut at 3 inches in order to get the largest fish the size I wanted. (It cuts a set of 3 fish and I only wanted to use the largest fish.)  I had to cut these twice in orange and then again in blue to get the shadow effect. I cut the various layers at the same size, inked them, and attached them to the fish.

In order to make the fish look like they are kissing, I punched out two small hearts with my Martha Stewart heart punch to add to the lips. I then punched out some blue hearts to resemble bubbles, another orange heart for the tag, and a blue flower to indicate which fish was the girl.

The greeting is from the And Many More stamp set (retired Stampin' Up) and the tag is cut with a die from Bundle of Stitched Shapes from Simon Says Stamp. I LOVE this set of dies.

I hope you will enjoy this card series. I am really liking this Life is a Beach Cricut cartridge!