IB181 Beachy Birthday

Hey peeps!  Inspired By is back from their little vacation with an all-new feature!  We have a double inspiration for you!! You can use the first photo as your inspiration for any themed project, or the second photo for a Christmas-themed project!  And of course, the sketch is optional!!  More choices, woohoo!

I didn't really have any stamps that would match our Christmas inspiration, but as I've been saying, there's still lots of summer left, so I chose to make a birthday card using the colors of the first inspiration photo as well as the sketch.  I pulled out some pretty seashell stamps from CTMH, did some heat-embossing, and here's what I came up with:

I did some clear embossing on the shell, sand dollar and starfish: I put the stamp on my platform in my Stamparatus and stamped it with a colored ink.  Then I cleaned it without removing from the platform and inked and stamped again with Versamark.  I then heat embossed it with clear embossing powder!  Custom-colored embossing!  I watercolored each one in wtih some ink, then fussy-cut them out.  The  shell used Poppy Parade for the outline and Calypso Coral for the coloring:

I did the same for the sand dollar and starfish, using Coastal Cabana, Bermuda Bay, Mango Melody and Pumpkin Pie.  I was really excited about the sentiment!  I heat embossed the "birthday" in White Craft ink and white embossing powder, and decided to try to stamp over the embossing with Stazon ink!  It worked!  It took a couple of tries but I was "happy" with the result!

Everything went on a Balmy Blue card that was embossed with the Subtle embossing folder, and I did add a few sequins to mimic some water drops!  I really love the bright colors on this and am glad Danni chose these inspiration photos this week!  How about you?  What will inspire you?  Birthday or Christmas, can't wait to see what you create!  Share it with us over at Inspired By and check out what inspired our designers!  Thanks for visiting today!

I wanted to share with you the gift my brother got me for my birthday:

Its a birdhouse in the shape of a bee skep...from Longwood Gardens!  So cute!  And speaking of Longwood, my brother sent me this last week:

An empty milk truck lost its brakes on the highway outside of Longwood Gardens.  In order to avoid hitting cars that were stopped ahead at a red light, the driver veered onto the ramp that enters the gardens, plowed through the stop sign and several hundred feet of bushes and trees and stopped right at the bus entry of the visitor's center.  Blessedly, no one was injured seriously....but my brother was sitting in a golf cart just a few feet away when it happened so he witnessed the whole thing!  It shook everyone up and the gardens have been closed for a few days while they assess the damage.  God was definitely watching over everyone!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details—All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Specified
Stamps	Biggest Wish, Swirly Seashells (Close to My Heart)
Card stock & Papers	Balmy Blue, Basic White, Crumb Cake
Ink	Poppy Parade, Calypso Coral, Coastal Cabana, Bermuda Bay, Mango Melody, Pumpkin Pie, Versamark, White Craft, Stazon Black
Accessories	Sequins from my stash, Dimensionals, White Embossing Powder, Clear Embossing Powder
Tools	Big Shot, Stamparatus, Heat Tool, Stitched Rectangle Dies, Subtle Embossing Folder (ret), Aquapainter