Beach Party Challenges

It's Thursday night and I've finally worked my way through Verve’s Beach Party Release Week challenges. Here are my cards for four of the five challenges.

To make things a little easier, I worked with one patterned paper package to help coordinate the colors and patterns. I used DCWV’s Citrus Matstack. It’s bright colors and bold patterns make great spring cards. Here, I combined three patterns and Verve’s Party Time set for a fun birthday card. I stamped the balloon trio on a narrow white panel and colored the image with Copic markers. The image is matted on an orange panel with rounded corners and some faux stitching on one edge.

I used a red, glittery paper to cover most of the cardfront and an orange paper with a more subtle pattern for the large panel near the bottom of the card. A red ribbon is knotted around the orange panel to bring in a nice pop of color. I punched a 1 ¾” circle from a scrap of yellow dotted paper and stamped the “happy birthday” sentiment from Big Wish on it in black ink.

Materials Used:
Party Time and Big Wish stamp sets (Verve Stamps); white cardstock (Taylored Expressions); Tuxedo Black ink (Memento); markers (Copic); Pumpkin Pie cardstock, corner rounder (Stampin’ Up!); designer paper (DCWV-Citrus Matstack); 1 ¾” circle punch (EK Success); white gel pen (Ranger); red grosgrain ribbon (Michaels)

This card uses more scraps of Citrus paper. I have an envelope stuck inside the front cover of the paper pack to collect scraps so I can put them to use on projects like this one. I used the clouds and one of the hot air balloons from the Up, Up, and Away stamp set for the focal image. I paper pieced the top of the balloon using a glittery scrap. The clouds are filled in with Dazzling Diamonds for some more sparkle—and to cover the bit of blue ink that got inside them when I was sponging in the sky—LOL! I had just enough room at the bottom of the panel to squeeze in the sentiment from the Great Expectations set.

I arranged a trio of coordinating patterned paper panels along the left side of the cardfront, making sure to separate the two busier patterns with the more subtle dotted one. A strip of blue ribbon, accented by three orange brads, stretches across the card. The image panel is matted on an orange big scalloped circle, then attached to the front of the card.

Materials Used:
Up, Up, and Away and Great Expectations stamp sets (Verve Stamps); white cardstock (Taylored Expressions); Tuxedo Black ink (Memento); markers (Copic); Bashful Blue Classic ink, Pumpkin Pie and Tempting Turquoise cardstock, Dazzling Diamonds (Stampin’ Up!); designer paper (DCWV-Citrus Matstack); circle and big scalloped circle dies (Nestabilities); blue grosgrain ribbon (Michaels); orange brads (Making Memories); foam tape

This one’s a clean and simple card that uses some sparkly designer paper to make a statement. I cut a piece of glittered floral paper for the large panel on the cardfront and rounded the edges for a softer look. A pair of ribbon strips run

The “hey there, sunshine” sentiment is stamped in Summer Sunrise ink on a white panel. I attached a coordinating big scalloped circle underneath it—it kind of reminds me of the look of a sun!

Materials Used:
Hey There Sunshine Plain Jane (Verve Stamps); Summer Sunrise ink, Lemon Tart and Summer Sunrise cardstock, Summer Sunrise grosgrain ribbon (Papertrey Ink); Whisper White cardstock, corner rounder (Stampin’ Up!); designer paper (DCWV-Citrus Matstack); circle and big scalloped circle dies (Nestabilities); foam tape

And, here’s card number 4. I switched to a different patterned paper collection for this one to get a softer look. I stamped the silhouette flower image from the Because of You set in River Rock ink on a cream panel, then stamped the “mom” sentiment over the image in Baja Breeze ink. Not sure I’m so thrilled with how that turned out . . . I layered the stamped image on a coordinating oval mat, then on a dot-embossed blue panel with stitched edges.

Most of the River Rock card base is covered with a sparkly plaid pattern in colors that match the image panel. I attached a polka dotted panel to the bottom of the card, covering a bit of the image panel. A matching satin ribbon runs along the top of the dotted paper.

I’ll share my last card for Verve’s release week challenges for my blogger challenge post tomorrow morning . . .

Materials Used:
Because of You stamp set (Verve Stamps); River Rock and Baja Breeze Classic inks, River Rock, Baja Breeze, and Very Vanilla cardstock (Stampin’ Up!); designer paper (DCWV-The Linen Closet); oval dies (Nestabilities); Swiss Dot embossing folder (Cuttlebug); wooden button, twine (Papertrey Ink); satin ribbon (Michaels); sewing machine