By the Dock

Hi Stampin' Friends!
Do you ever find yourself wishing for summer in the middle of winter? I'm sure we all do at some point. A favorite aspect of summer for many people is all things water, boats, lake, etc. I've never lived on a lake but I suspect it would have a charm all its own. There is something so mesmerizing about water, especially in nature with lakes, rivers and oceans. These forms of water have been favorite stamping themes of mine over the years and I was so excited to see Stampin'Up! come out with the latest stamp set featuring water, this time a lake!  Have you seen the "By the Dock" bundle on page 49 of the Mini Catalog?  It includes a dock, boat, paddles, birds, fish and frogs!  It did stretch my imagination a little bit to think of ways to use it but I love what I came up with!

These stamps offer a lot of technique options between stamping, watercoloring, blender pens and alcohol markers. This card also features the dry land stamp which is a simple edge of water stamp. For my water, I used our Watercolor Pencils (Bermuda Bay and Pacific Point colors) and then blended out the pencil strokes with a Blender Pen and Wink of Stella. You'll also see some small waves created by using Pacific Point ink and a stamp from the set. Don't forget about your watercolor pencils! They are easy to use and even easier to control where the color is going and how to move it around with dabs of water.

For this card, I paired the By the Dock bundle with the High Tide 3D embossing folder.  My boat and dock and oars were simple to cut out with the dies and I incorporated some great rope with our Baker's Twine.

For this card, I used my Stampin' Blends alcohol markers to color the boat, dock and water. I stamped the boat and dock on Very Vanilla card stock with Early Espresso ink and then colored. You can do a lot of shading with the markers which is always fun.

For my final creation, I wanted to feature some of the extra dies that come in the bundle that do not have a coordinating stamp; frogs and foliage! I knew I wanted an embossed background and after thinking about several options, I settled on the Stone 3D embossing folder, one of the Sale-A-Bration freebies with a $100 purchase. I was trying to figure out a way to incorporate some water and came up with the fun idea of cutting the embossed background in 2 pieces, shortening up the upper and lower edges just a tad and after stamping some water currents, trying to create something that looked like a small stream. It's not perfect, but I think you get the idea! Because the happy little frogs are jumping about, I grabbed my sentiment from the "Above the Clouds" stamp set which features hot air balloons.  I get so excited when I'm able to combine products - makes me feel like I'm getting even more of my money's worth!

If you like lakeside recreating, you should definitely consider purchasing this bundle! You won't be sorry as you create memorable projects for your friends and family!

We are half way through the Sale-A-Bration promotion! I hope you have had a chance to participate in it by earning free product with your purchases. Let me know if you have any questions. You can check out the free product by clicking on the SAB brochure photo on the right. You can also click on my supply list below to get to the online store for ordering and more information. I'm always happy to help so feel free to contact me too!

Happy Stampin'!
Sarah