Welcome to my crafty blog. This is definitely the summer of the ‘staycation’ and I’m looking forward to maybe getting some trips to the seaside over the next few weeks. This week’s challenge over at The Paper Players is being hosted by Joanne, who’s definitely picked up on the vibe! I thought Claritystamp’s ‘village harbour’ stamp set was ideal as I love those little fishing villages in Devon & Cornwall with their brightly coloured houses.

I started with one of my inky mop-up backgrounds (no surprise there!) which I cut down to fit an A6 card blank and then stamped the seagulls and the houses into place.

I added the little boats and then masked off the birds and the boats so I could use Clarity’s ‘seaweed’ stencil’ to add a bit of a waves effect to the sea by brushing ‘chipped sapphire’ Distress Oxide through it. I then coloured everything with my Spectrum Noir pencils (choosing the colours for the different houses probably took the longest time…!)

I finished by adding the sentiment and flock of seagulls and edged the card with a black Sharpie pen. At that point, my plans had to change a little as the marker pen slipped when I was going round the edge, meaning the topper had to be trimmed a bit further to get rid of the black pen mark!!! Hey ho – I popped it onto a piece of black card before attaching it to the card blank.

I thought I’d share a couple of picture of Clovelly in Devon, one of my favourite spots. I love the little winding street down to the harbour – it’s too steep and narrow for cars, so deliveries are still transported by a donkey and cart! My boys were absolutely fascinated by that when they were younger. Happy days!