Shore Thing

Having spent most of a cold winter dreaming about Spring, now that it's finally here, I (Lauren) have started dreaming about... you guessed it: SUMMER! And nothing captures summer in New Jersey better than going "down the shore". At least some of my current obsession is due to the brand new Eyelet Outlet Sandcastle Brads, which have just arrived in the store! Not only are they completely adorable, they pair so beautifully with our many other beach-themed brads. So I used quite a few styles!

I started by making a "Beach in a Jar" with layers of paper to act as sky, sea and sand. Then I broke out the brads: The Sandcastle was  a no-brainer, but I was surprised how cute it looked next to a Tall Palm Tree. Obviously I needed a Sun Brad, and it made sense for a Seagull to be flying overhead. 

I planned to use some Shell Brads in the foreground, but only noticed midway through that I had run out of those. Sea Shore Brads are equally awesome, but too big in scale next to the castle. The shells in the Shell Corner Brads were the right size, but there were too many in a cluster. I was getting ready to just do without small shells when it occurred to me to wonder how hard it would be to trim down one of the Shell Corner Brads. As it turns out, not hard at all! A couple of snips with my stout craft nippers on the side away from the brad's legs, and I had a perfectly sized sand dollar and starfish which could be attached just like any other brad!

I was planning to add the word "Aloha" to my card in un-adorned cardstock letter stickers, when I started thinking that the tall "l" and "h" would be much more fun with a Palm Tree on each. The Shell Corners were still on my table, and I couldn't help but notice how closely their size and shape echoed the "a's" of this alphabet. At that point, I figured I couldn't leave the "o" just plain, so obviously I had to break out the other style of Seagull Brad! A little bit of white tape from the Pastel Skinny Washi Set and some Glitter Gold Tape set off the sentiment panel just that a tiny bit more.

Maybe this card isn't quiiiiiiiite as much fun as a beach vacation, but I hope it will be a welcome addition to someone's mailbox while we're all still daydreaming about those happy summer days to come!

♥♥♥

Lauren Bergold's winter habitat is a corner of t'internet called, 

"...all the GOOD blog names were taken..."

and she'd love for you to visit her there!