Pilin' On the Outdoor Fun

This week at the Pile It On Challenge our theme is Outdoor Fun and we're sponsored by Inky Impressions. They have so many adorable digi stamps, but I was really drawn to their Best Wishes Banner.

click to enlarge

This lovely lady on a pier with her parasol is one of my favorite rubber stamps; I got it as part of a "grab-bag" I won some years back. I actually ended up fussy-cutting each piece separately: the figure & umbrella were stamped on coated Hammermill cardstock and colored with Copics; and the pier was stamped on a beige cardstock, embossed with an SU! embossing folder (which I just won from Words to Scrap By; thank you Bernadette!), and inked with Vintage Photo & Antique Linen distress inks.

If you follow this blog, the wave background might look familiar... I used the same technique just last week for the Crafting with Dragonflies' Artist Trading Card Challenge. What can I say, I still had the supplies out on my table! This time, I used two sizes of the wave border cut file from SVG Attic's Just Beachy set (I have a photo and description of how I did this here).

I added some sandy texture with a Versamark watermark pen and ZING Brown Sugar embossing powder. The house brads & metal charm were gifts from my mom (thanks Mom!) and I added a bit of Pink Paislee twine to the boat for good measure. The corner seaweed embellishment was made by gluing green tulle onto a green cardstock and cutting with a Spellbinders die.

This design really came together for me when I realized how much it reminded me of Christina's World by Andrew Wyeth... I'm sure that was my subconscious speaking, as I have a very personal connection to that particular painting. So the balance achieved with the two houses was inspired directly by the painting, and I ended up using their bright colors as my main colors.


Inspiration/Challenges:

1. Crafting Musketeers #14: Stamped Image
2. Cuttlebug Mania: Use a charm + Manual die-cutting machine (I used a SU! embossing folder and a Spellbinders die on my BigShot)
3. Graph'It Colour Challenge #26: Anything Goes with Alcohol Markers (I used Copics for the image and shading on the banner)
4. Inky Impressions Challenge #165: Anything Goes
5. Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: Product or Technique you wish you used more often (making my own background, especially with stencils & ink)
6. Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Anything goes
7. Sparkles Forum Challenges #57: At the Beach/ Summer Fun
8. The Crazy Challenge #174: By the Sea
9. WordArt Wednesdays: Anything Uplifting Goes

Update: This was  selected as one of the Top 3 projects for Inky Impressions Challenge #165. Thank you!

Thank you for visiting, and hope you'll join us this week at Pile It On,