Dog Days of Summer

Here's another card I made during the Virtual Stamp Night challenges on Splitcoast. Specifically, this one was inspired by the challenge, "Off, Into the Sunset," which challenged us to sponge a background.

I knew I wanted to create a beach scene, and I wanted to use the dachshund image from Cowtown Stamps. And, from that, this card emerged. I sponged the sky and water using the following dye inks: Memories Soft Baby Blue, Marvy Caribbean Blue, Adirondack Sailboat Blue, and Adirondack Denim. A white gel pen provided some of the whitecaps. The sand is made with a torn strip of paper sponging the following dye inks: SeaShells Sandal, SeaShells Peach Bellini, Adrirondack Latte. A Stampendous sand stamp was stamped with Brilliance Pearlescent Beige Pigment Ink randomly to give the sand the appearance of texture. Also dots of Copic markers and a Sakura glitter pen helped with this effort.

The adorable dachshund sandcastle image from Cowtown Stamps was stamped with Marvy black dye ink onto X-Press It cardstock and colored with Copic markers. The image was then cut out and placed into the scene. A little shadowing with a Prismacolor pencil was done on the sand, along with two faint paw prints. The beach ball is from a larger image from Inkadinkado, and the birds are from My Favorite Things.

The patterned paper is from Bo Bunny and the card and scene are framed with black cardstock. The sentiment is computer-generated, Baker's Twine and a clear button were attached as the finishing elements of this card.

I, for one, cannot wait for the dogs days of summer. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE having my summer off. This warm summer-like weekend was just a preview.