Stay Crafty with A Blog Named Hero
Here Comes The Sun
Good day, fellow crafters. I know, I know…another beach scene. I am sure you are saying to yourself, please just go to the beach already…lol…but when I went looking through my stash to create this entry for the Hero Arts monthly challenge for July I just couldn’t resist. I mean come on with a theme like Here Comes The Sun how could I not, right? I have been a fan of Hero Arts products for some time and this particular card helps reiterate that, as it is a combination of their February 2021 and June 2023 membership sets. I hope you enjoy and find inspiration to create something yourself.
To create the background for this card I first started with some kraft-colored cardstock to represent sand. To this I used Gina K’s Chocolate Brown and my crafting toothbrush, yes that’s a thing, to use the flick technique to make a more realistic-looking sandy beach area. This gives the idea of larger particles of sand or possibly small stones. I then set it aside to dry.
For the next stage I chose a piece of white cardstock that I divided into basically half with a piece of green tape. In the lower half I used the two water stamps along with Distress Oxide in the colors of Tumbled Glass, and Mermaid Lagoon along with Simon Says Stamp ink in the color No Diving to create the ocean surface. The next step on this half was to add the glint of sunlight stamp onto the water with some Archival ink in the color Sunflower.
I next carefully adjusted the green tape so that I work on the top half which would be the background. For this step I first masked off where my sun would go then I used some of the lighter blue shades of the Distress Oxide to create the sky. I also used the Squeezed Lemonade again to capture the glow of the sun. I wanted this to appear as the time was later in the day so I also used some darker tones to the sky with the help of some Distress Oxide in the color Seedless Preserves. I next removed the mask over the sun, ink blended again with the Squeezed Lemonade on another piece of cardstock to which I used a die from the kit to cut out a circle for the sun. I then mounted it to the background. For some added interest I used some Sheer Shimmer craft spray on the water’s surface. You can’t see it in the main photo but if you look in the gallery there is a close-up. I next removed the green tape and stamped my sailboat and the birds flying in the sky that completed the theme. I also incorporated the sentiment at this point which is in black pigment ink.
The next stage was the assembly. The June 2023 kit not only contains the water stamps but a die that allows you to create the edge of the incoming waves which I used to cut them out. To get this to line up with my beach I just overlapped the two pieces. The next step was to trim the combined elements to their final dimension as well as a dark blue mat for visual interest and then adhere them together and then down to a square white card base.
For the foreground elements, I used the February 2021 kit. I first stamped all of the elements onto a white card cardstock and used my colored pencils to apply color to them then cut them out with the corresponding dies. Once that was complete I positioned all of the pieces onto my card and played around with what I wanted to the final layout to be. Once I was satisfied I used a technique I learned from Jennifer McGuire to ensure my pieces would go back exactly where I wanted them…press n’ seal. By taking a piece of Press n’ Seal and pressing it down over my card I was able to pick up all of the loose pieces in their exact configuration, flip the Press n’ Seal over, add the glue to their back and then flip the Press n’ Seal back over and put all of the pieces back exactly as they had been laid out. This worked fantastically for this application. I next took a brown alcohol marker and used it to create the shadows behind my figures which finished the card.
