Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's my turn to host this week and I have a timely theme challenge for you to work with:

Whilst lots of us are already starting to work on Christmas projects, it is still very much summer time and I chose this week's theme with that in mind. As the rhyme goes, 'Oh I do like to be beside the seaside, oh I do like to be beside the sea' - sand between your toes, fish and chips, buckets and spades and more - the seaside is one of my favourite places to be. I decided to break from my usual card and make a scrapbook page to share with you for a change this week.

I live in Northampton which is very close to the very centre of England, so is about as far from the coast as you can get. I recently took the James Juniors to visit their grandparents, my parents, in Wales for the first time since the start of the Covid pandemic and the first place they always ask to visit is the beach. This left me with lots of great photos ready to scrapbook. I am mostly a Memories and More pocket scrapbooker, but occasionally I do make full 12" x 12" layouts and with the gorgeous 'Friends are Like Seashells' bundle in the annual catalogue I couldn't resist. Take a look at today's layout:

Here's the low-down on today's project:

I captured a great photo of Rebecca jumping the waves as I followed her down to the shoreline, so thought it would be perfect for my layout. Here's a close-up of my photo and the surrounding decoration in more detail: 

 I backed my photo with a piece of 'Expressions In Ink' designer paper and added a strip of the gorgeous Night of Navy ombre glimmer paper down the left side, to pick up on the bright blues of the sky in the photo. I embossed and diecut the seaside shells from pearlescent paper, then used the corner to decorate my photo whilst snipping the the other shells and seaweed apart to add as decoration elsewhere. I did a little background stamping beneath my layering and my main sentiment is fussy cut from one of the 'What A Year' Memories and More cards; you can see that more closely below:

I love that sentiment and it totally sums up the mood of the day and Rebecca in particular in that moment. Both of the James Juniors were so thrilled to be at the beach that day, jumping the waves, fishing in rock pools and generally enjoying the sea air.

In addition to a sprinkling of sequins and gems, I also added a sentiment tag to the corner of my page, decorated with a fussy ribbon bow:

My layout is actually quite simple, and very much like my card making style - although if you could see the pile of patterned papers that covered my desk as I made this page you would think that it must have been anything but and I did procrastinate for quite some time before deciding on my final papers and design!

So what do you think? Did you enjoy my scrapbook layout today for a change? Should I share more of this kind of thing on my blog? Feel free to leave me a comment below - I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Before you reach for your ink and papers, check out what our amazing team has created to inspire you this week:

I can't wait to see how my theme inspires you this week!

Since I did something other than a card today, I am going to link up over at Just Us Girls where that happens to be their theme this week.

Enjoy your day; I have a family day at home today, with nothing special planned. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

FRIENDS ARE LIKE SEASHELLS BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£50.25)	SEASHELLS 3D EMBOSSING FOLDER (£8.25)	PEARLESCENT SPECIALTY PAPER (£3.75)	OMBRE 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) SPECIALTY PAPER (£9.25)	EXPRESSIONS IN INK 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) SPECIALTY DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£14.00)
WHAT A YEAR MEMORIES & MORE CARD PACK (£9.25)	BASIC WHITE 12X12 (30.5 X 30.5 CM) CARDSTOCK (£7.25)	PALE PAPAYA 3/8" (1 CM) OPEN WEAVE RIBBON (£6.50)	SIMPLY ELEGANT TRIM (£7.00)	2021–2023 IN COLOR JEWELS (£6.50)
ARTISTRY BLOOMS ADHESIVE-BACKED SEQUINS (£6.50)	PALE PAPAYA A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	NIGHT OF NAVY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	BALMY BLUE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	TASTEFUL LABELS DIES (£29.00)

 

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the fabulous Ann to host this week and she has my favourite, a sketch challenge for you to work with:

So many options for today's sketch! The weather is slowly warming up as Spring approaches and whilst we may not be experiencing beach vacations for some time to come still, I decided to break out my Sand and Sea Suite and recreate that feeling with a card or two instead. So this is the first card I came up with:

Here's the low-down on today's card:

Sand and Sea - So much to love about the Sand & Sea Suite! One of the most unique aspects is the way that the dies contain a whole joined sheet of shells and sea fronds that can be both stamped and embossed then either used as a single piece or the individual pieces can be cut away as I've done on my card. I stamped, embossed and diecut the panel in both pink, yellow and pearlescent cardstock and mixed the various elements on my card, with that large, pink circular shell as the centrepiece. I gave it a pearlescent finish by sponging with frost white shimmer paint before adding to my card - just check out the amazing texture and detail:

I added some pearls and braided trim to finish. This stamp really does have the most lovely sentiments too; one the front of my card I used the one that forms the basis of the name for this stamp set - here's a peek at the inside of my card with the second part of my greeting:

This card is headed to one of my oldest and most dear friends for her birthday - I know she will love it! I'm also linking it up with the team over at Time Out Challenges, who are also celebrating their 7th birthday this week and challenging us to make birthday cards too - way to go Time Out!

A Pearlescent Alternative - I had another piece of the Sand & Sea DSP left after making the above card, so I decided to flip it and make another card using the reverse pattern, with the same layout but changing out some of the elements and colours and going for a slightly softer look:

I actually had something of a happy accident with this pearlescent shell. I had intended to simply emboss it, but having embossed the pink shell on the card above first, I hadn't realised that some of the pink ink had rubbed off onto the embossing folder so when I removed my pearly shell from the embossing folder, it had traces of pink ink on the indents. I wiped some of it away but then decided to go with it and instead rubbed the raised areas with Blushing Bride ink to accentuate them. I decided I actually quite liked the detail so no harm done - what do you think?

So which of these cards do you prefer? This one: 

Or this one:

Do leave me a comment below - I'd love to hear your thoughts. I am using this suite for my next monthly online stamp class and am looking forward to creating more fabulous cards with it - get in touch if you'd like more information.

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's main project for you to pin for easy reference:

You can see all of my Product and 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

Before you reach for your ink and papers, check out what our amazing team has created to inspire you this week:

You can see all of my 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

Enjoy your day; the weather has been unseasonally mild here this week, so I will be spending some time in the garden today and probably heading out on my bike for a long cycle ride with the other members of the James household to take advantage of the warmer temparatures in case winter decides to make a return! I will also be placing my last Sale-A-Bration order as the current Sale-A-Bration promotion ends today - last call for orders if you would like to earn one of the amazing free gifts that are available as part of the promotion. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

FRIENDS ARE LIKE SEASHELLS BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£50.25)	SEASHELLS 3D EMBOSSING FOLDER (£8.25)	SAND & SEA 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£10.75)	TASTEFUL LABELS DIES (£29.00)	SEASIDE SHELLS (£5.50)
PEARLESCENT SPECIALTY PAPER (£3.75)	BLUSHING BRIDE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	MELON MAMBO A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	SO SAFFRON A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	FLIRTY FLAMINGO A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
VERSAMARK PAD (£8.75)	WHITE STAMPIN’ EMBOSS POWDER (£5.50)	3/16" (4.8 MM) BRAIDED LINEN TRIM (£6.50)	BLUSHING BRIDE 3/8" (1 CM) METALLIC RIBBON (£5.50)	MELON MAMBO CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)
FLIRTY FLAMINGO CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	DAFFODIL DELIGHT CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	VELLUM A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.25)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)	PEARL BASIC JEWELS (£4.75)
FROST WHITE SHIMMER PAINT (£7.50)