Oh I do like to be beside the seaside!

Hi everyone, today I would like to share the latest page I have made for my 2025 calendar - August.  I wanted a summery theme (even though we certainly can’t rely on the British summer weather!) and I was inspired by a recent tutorial by Emma-Jo at Lavinia  here, where she used the gorgeous little cottages to make a beach hut-type scene with stylised waves created using hill masks. I introduced a few extra elements due to the different size image I wanted to create (Emma Jo’s was a DL card) plus I used different pens and slightly different techniques to create the sea and sky - but I loved the basic concept so much I thought it was perfect for a “summer holiday” calendar page - we can live in hope of sunny skies! 

I cut a piece of stamping card 19.5cm x 14.5cm and created the waves by blending Blue Atoll Elements ink using a hill mask, and edging each wave with a narrow band of Blue Lagoon. I then masked the waves and blended Sundance up to a masked horizon line to create the sand.

 I stamped a row of three cottages and had the brainwave of using the large stones stamp (which I think I have never used!!) to create a sea wall. I then masked the cottages and stones and blended more Blue Atoll Elements to create the sky and sun, which I coloured with more Sundance. With the masks still in place I used the stones stamp to create little walls between the cottages and stamped some birds in flight, then added some green foliage between the cottages.

I removed the masks and coloured the cottages and stones with Zig pens and added some white Signo pen highlights, then outlined the waves with blue Posca sparkle pen and painted further stylised mini waves with turquoise sparkle pen. I also added dots to the beach and white Posca dots to the waves in the same style as Emma Jo, and also some sparkle with both Sakura Stardust and Spectrum Noir sparkle pens. 

I stamped the sentiment which seemed to me to be made for this scene, and at that point I felt it needed something else … seagulls! I stamped 2 birds sitting on the sea wall using Sand Dune VFC then painted them with white acrylic Posca pen paint and Zig pens for the beak and wings, and outlined them with a black fineliner.  I’ve not tried this before so it wasn’t perfect, but I was reasonably happy with how the birdies turned out. To finish I blended a bit more Blue Lagoon Elements around the edges to add depth.

Here’s an angled picture to show the sparkle.

Stamps: Lavinia Woodland Cottages, Stones (large), Leaf Creeper, Bird Collection, Birds, Deeper than the ocean;

Media: Lavinia Elements inks (Blue Atoll, Blue Lagoon, Sundance); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Avocado, Paradise, Sand Dune); Kuretake Zig Clean Color watercolour pens; Sakura Stardust pens (blue, yellow, clear); Posca sparkle pens (blue, turquoise, yellow); Posca pen (white); Signo pen (white); Spectrum Noir sparkle pen (clear);

Tools: Lavinia acetate hill masks and circle mask.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Ally’s Angels #88 - Anything Goes

Crafty Catz #684 - Anything Goes

Creative Artiste #111 - Anything Mixed Media Goes

Double Trouble #181 - Anything Goes 

Everybody Art #569 - House/Home

Krafty Chicks #745 - Stamps

Love to Craft #83 - Anything Goes (3rd entry)

Love to Scrap #170 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Mix It Up #74 - Anything Goes (3rd entry)

My Time to Craft #548 - Anything but a Card 

Outlawz (December) - Anything Goes in a Card Free Zone

Path of Positivity #126 - Anything Positive Goes

Simon Says (Monday) - Make It Sparkle (3rd entry)

We Love 2 Create #11 2024 - Anything Mixed Media Goes

Word Art Wednesday #677/678 - Anything Goes (3rd entry)

This was another project that took hours to complete, but I must confess I was thrilled with it when it was finished, so many thanks to Emma Jo for the inspiration. 5 calendar pages done now … only 7 to go! 🥰

I hope everyone has survived the terrible weekend storms unscathed. We came home from a weekend away to find a large bush collapsed in the front garden, damp on the ceiling of our living room bay window which was only replastered and painted less than 3 months ago, rear garden fence pieces strewn around and a greenhouse glass panel smashed on the floor! The joys of English weather! 

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,