I'm travelling into a new way of working, a new country, a new language, and a new hobby which I'm passionate about. Come with me for some of the journey...

Friday, 7 June 2013

Boardwalk Bathing Beauty



Hello everyone, and a warm and sunny welcome to you.  After the high drama of my Underwater ATC, we're sticking to the beach theme but you'll be glad to here that our heroine today is well and truly alive!  


She's one of the wonderful Bathing Beauties from Artistic Outpost's latest release, Boardwalk - and she's gorgeous.


She did put in an appearance on my little beach hut, but I love her so much that I thought she deserved a tag all of her own.


Don't forget that until June 8th, all stamps are 15% off at Artistic Outpost - hurry!


I found myself in a "beach" colour palette for all my Boardwalk projects so far - the aqua of the water; a sandy, ivory hue; and the natural whites and browns of stone and wood.









For the background here, I really wanted to try to capture the oscillating shimmer of light on water, not only of the sea but also of swimming pools.












So there's some watery wrinkle-free distress technique, with some added spritz and flick; and then some stencilling with Picket Fence Distress Stain for those architectural reflections you get at an outdoor pool or lido.












I stamped the bathing beauty herself in Jet Black Archival, and cut a mask so that I could stamp the delicious beach hut behind her in Coffee.










I wanted a watery, reflective look for the sentiment too, so embossing was clearly called for... 

And I'm so pleased with how it came out - more by luck than judgement! 

I did a very light Coffee stamping - having swiped the ink onto the stamp rather than tapping it.








Then I clear embossed it, adding a few sprinkles of Antique Linen Distress Embossing Powder to the mix (that's what the sandy beach is created out of at the foot of the tag).

I love that the only place it's really brown is over the white stencilled areas - everywhere else it has mixed with the blue beneath to give a wonderful sort of translucent sea-green.




I stamped two Pier tickets - Coffee and Black mixed onto the stamp, which I think gives a great vintage look to the "printing" - and attached them with one of the adorable Idea-ology paper clips.

They're layered over some delicious "fishermen's netting" which was another one of the doodads in my candy win from the fabulous Cat Kerr.  I was doubly lucky that so many of the bits and pieces were beach and/or nautically themed!











Some sunshine coloured ribbons (I think it was Scattered Straw I used on the seam binding, with maybe a bit of Antique Linen thrown in for good measure) tied off with pale twine finishes the whole thing off.

Well, I hope that's offered you another taste of summer at the beach, whatever your own weather is getting up to at the moment.

Thank you so much for taking the time to stop by - I am so grateful for each and every comment and visitor.  See you out there in Craftyblogland!

Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

I'd like to enter this for the following:
Tag Time at Fashionable Stamping Challenges
Tag It at Pan Pastel UK

50 comments:

...the yorkshire fox... said...

...gorgeous tag Alison, loving the sea of blues, great image and love the quote...Melxx :)

Anke said...

Wonderful tag, so lovely.

Hugs
Anke

chrissie said...

Terrific tag Alison with a seaside feel to it. Love the net and the pier tickets.

Have a good day

chrissie x

Helen said...

Fabulous, Alison, am loving these stamps (in your hands anyhow!) Have a good weekend.

Brenda Brown said...

Beautiful colours and layers. This boardwalk set of images are fabulous. Hope your week went well.
hugs {brenda} x0x

Astrid Maclean said...

Great tag, love the multi-layered blues in the background and those stamps are wonderful!

Margie said...

Lovely summery tag Alison - just makes me want to visit the beach again and walk barefoot on the sand. Love, Margie x

Sue said...

Yep you've done it again Alison, this is wonderful. Have a great weekend xx

Amanda said...

Love this tag, colours are perfect. Another great creation using these stamps.
Love
Amanda x

Jennie Atkinson said...

Fabulous tag Alison - just loving all those wonderful blues and shapes on the background. Have a lovely weekend - hope the sun is shining where you are! Jennie x

toni said...

A gorgeous addition to your beach series! Yes she is a lovely lady, loving your aqua colours and thanks for the tip on mixing brown and black ink for the vintage stamping x

Redanne said...

Really loving this Boardwalk set of stamps and love what you have been doing with them too. This is one stunning tag, love the blues and the great tip for stamping. A very inspirational piece. Hugs, Anne x

Rosie said...

Your tag is gorgeous, Alison.

Have a wonderful weekend

cathylynn said...

Your tag is a real darling! Gee it makes me yearn to go to the beach. Great colors and lovely stamp. Those pier tickets are great. Another fabulous job.
Hugs, Cathy-Lynn

Anonymous said...

I may not care for the sea but vintage bathing belles are always so appealing, aren't they?!
Fabulous tag Alison.
Wishes
Lynne

Alie Hoogenboezem-de Vries said...

What a great tag Alison. You're so great with details..also on this tag.

kind regards, Alie :-)

Linda Coughlin, the funkie junkie said...

Beautiful colors - fabulous work on that background - love that fisherman's netting. I have been keeping my eyes open for something like that for years but have never found any that delicate. It works so perfectly here!

Hugs,
Linda

Brenda Brown said...

Just popped back to say thank you for sharing at PanPastel UK and FSC.
hugs {brenda} x0x

Hettie said...

Loving you lovely Bathing Beauty! And the weather is just perfick for her too right now!
Super job Honey.
xx

Kate Yetter said...

Wow! Your background looks just like the ocean. I love it. It looks fabulous against that lovely beauty.
Kate

barbarayaya62 said...

BAckground is fantastic! Love your work! BArbarayaya

Krisha said...

With temperatures reaching 100 F today this tag is very cooling to my eyes. Love all the watery effects in the background, and that touch of net is perfect in MHO

Anonymous said...

Gorgeous tag Alison ! Your descriptions are fabulous, I could almost see the water shimmering before my eyes ! Sue C x

Sarah said...

If it is beach related, I love it! You put so much thought into your creations making them extra special.

Netty said...

Terrific background Alison and am loving the fishermens netting, fab touch. Enjoy the weekend, hugs Annette x

ria gall said...

Hi Alison
this has a great beach feel to it, love how the words have been embossed at the bottom and how you have made it look like sand at the bottom of the tag.
She is a great girl, lovely
Ria

Julia said...

Very nice effect with the picket fence distress stain, it really works. I must try that. I love this tag, love the theme and the images.clever you!
Julia

Claire said...

Hi Alison, fab tag - I really like the effect of the embossed words and how the brown parts stand out against the white background. It's just stunning!

Janny Jager said...

Great tag Alison with a lot af great details.
It's a beauty.
Greetings Janny

Paper Profusion said...

A fabulous stamp with a sassy yet carefree attitude! Wonderful tag Alison with terrific inking going on. I love your sand effects and terrific floating text (with perfectly imbibed sandgrains).

Happy Weekend! Nicola x

Claudia N. said...

Oh, you REALLY show us what is possible with this awesome stamp, Alison!

Such a fresh tag and beautiful stamping! I can almost smell the sea when looking at your awesome tag! Adorable!

Hugs,
Claudia x

2amscrapper said...

beautiful tag background---such wonderful blues--and distress antique linen embossing powder is definitely the way to go for sand--beautiful stamps! The more creations I see with them, the more I want to buy them!

Anita Houston The Artful Maven said...

Love your color with these images! Beautiful sea side tag!

Jenny Marples said...

More water eh? Love the way the Picket Fence stencilling has played with the background inks and the netting with the ribbon/twine looks so good. Hugs, Jenny x

Marjie Kemper said...

Beautiful, indeed! Love that netting and tags and of course your dreamy blues.

Keren Tamir said...

Fantastic tag Alison!!!!

craftytrog said...

So beautiful!!! xxx

Dianne said...

A tag of her own brilliant, I just want to jump in that background looks like the pool when all of us seniors are moving in the pool lol.. I love it,I googled watery wrinkle-free distress technique, there was splitcoast, Timmy and Word and Pictures kool eh :O).. The embossing, the sand, I've learnt so much in this post thank you..

Ink Art Designs said...

Hi Alison...wow, this makes me wish it was summer...can't wait! Love the water effect, it just seems so natural ~ and love what you have done with this stamp set.
Thanks for joining in the fun at Fashionable Stamping Challenges
Dot x

Chris said...

Fabulous tag Alison! Your background is superb and I love the bathing beauty too. Hugs, Chris x

Julia S-W said...

A beautiful tag Alison. I love the bathing beauty - she's so gorgeous. My favourite things here are the wonderful colours, the embossing and the 'fabric' used at the top so creatively. Hope your weekend is going well.
Juliaxx

Lucy Edmondson said...

Gorgeous, Alison; you are really rocking these new stamps,

Lucy x

Margaret said...

I love that you shared the technique on the embossing! Need to try this!! Your tag has captured the water element so well and I agree, quite a bit more cheerful than Underwater!

Mrs.B said...

Hi Alison, Gorgeous tag, and such a lovely bathing beauty. Beautiful details and background colour .
Thanks for sharing with us at FSC,
Avril xx

Terry said...

So happy to see you sharing the "Bathing Beauty" with us at FSC! Love this tag and so stunning in blues! Hugs!

Yvonne Garner said...

Hi Alison! You could not get any beachier than your tag! This is just fabulous! You have a true gift! Best, Yvonne

Unknown said...

Brilliant! Love the composition and the sentiment is great! Love it! Chris xxx

Silvia(Barnie) said...

That's a wonderful tag, great seaside feeling. Thanks for joining us at FSC this fortnight.

mark gould said...

absolutely beautiful great technique on the stamping at the bottom and I love the layers of texture, the little tickets and netting at the top work perfectly x

Kezzy said...

Wow gorgeous tag, I so love the blues in your beach themes and the netting is awesome :-) hugs Kezzy xxx