Sending you sunshine...

Hello, hello!

I'm up on the Bellariffic blog today and I don't know about you but this summer heat wave has me longing for a relaxing day at the beach. Since that isn't currently in the cards for me, instead I cranked up the AC and figured I would live vicariously through the lovely Uptown Girl Lainie on the Lounger for this Scenic Saturday.

Lainie is definitely living her best life, with a fruity drink in her hand and all day to pamper herself with a bit of rest and relaxation. So, I figured she needed a special background and what could be more special than her own private beach? With Lainie on the Lounger being a larger stamp, I chose to flip the A2 sized card front on its side to a landscape orientation and stamp her off to the left hand side of the card. This left me with room for some fun background coloring, as well as leaving plenty of space for the sentiment that also comes with her. Because I wanted the sandy beach to appear as if it extended quite a ways back in the distance, I used a ruler to sketch in the horizon line at about Lainie's eye level. This left the top 1/3 of the scene for the sky and the remaining 2/3 for the beach and that 'rule of thirds' ratio is another one of those design tricks that create a sense of balance in a scene and makes anything you create more visually appealing. Because my last two Scenic Saturday cards focused a lot on the ocean for setting the scene, this time I chose to flip the view and only hint at the waves lapping at the shoreline. When coloring the water I took advantage of the white card stock base, strategically leaving space between the patches of blue that would read as white foam, especially once I softened the edges with some white ink from a Sharpie extra fine white paint pen. And just like that, Lainie had her own private oasis.  :)

Thanks for stopping by and stay crafty (and cool) my friends!

Supply list:
cardstock- Bazzill and Copic X-Press It
stamps- Stamping Bella (Uptown Girl Lainie on the Lounger)
ink- Memento tuxedo black and Papertrey Ink honey nut
My Favorite Things A2 stitched rectangle stax set 1
Sharpie extra fine white pen
Copic markers:
skin- V17, E13, E15, E25, R21
hair- YR23, YR24, E47, E49
clothes- C00, C2, C4, C5, C8, C10, R43, R46, R89, YR30, YR31, E31, E33, E35, E43, E44, Y11, Y13, Y17, Y26
bag/towel/drink- E53, E55, E57, Y02, Y21, Y26, Y28/R43, R46, R27, R29, R89/Y00, Y13, Y17, YR21, YR15, R22, BG11, BG72
sky- G0000, G000, BG10, BG11, BG90
sand/trees- Y32, E31, E33, E34, E35, E43,E44/YG03, YG93, YG95, YG97, YG99, BG99
water- G000, BG11, BG32, BG45, BG09
lounger- E08, E17, E18, E29, BG11, BG32, BG72, BG75, BG78