Loved the Beach-y papers from Reminisce!

I wanted to post my March projects and share what I learned this month...so here we go...

My pages rarely go together quickly. I fiddle around, fix my mistakes, and am often surprised at the end. I really struggled with trying to get the chipboard shells to look "real". I don't have any official art training, but I pulled out my paints and started to play. After several attempts, I finally got the color I wanted, but the shells just looked so flat. So I started to bend the shells along the score lines and I made a discovery...all those layers of "not quite right" paint colors were going to save me! They started to show through, just like the layers of a real seashell show through as it gets pounded in the surf. So I pulled out my paper scuffers and went to work. I admit that nature does a better job of making seashells, but I am happy with my results!

I cut the title with my Cricut (Stamped) but thought it just blended into the background too much so I mounted it on vellum before adhering it to the page. I wanted the shells on the paper to stand out more so used a product called Liquid Laminate (by Beacon) to make some of them shine! Last thing I did was to tuck a journaling tag behind the top right picture. I cut some "ribbon" from paper and added a seashell brad from my stash!

I used the same paint process on the chipboard shells on my next project and thought they turned out even better. I am planning on cutting some more at the store and playing around with color. (Yes! Scrapbooks Plus has this die!)

I cut my pictures in strips on this layout to mimic the stripes of the paper.

The checkerboard project was a lot of fun and pretty easy. I used my Cricut to cut the (64)squares - boy, do I love my bug! I am not sure if I was planning on using the words to decorate the playing area from the beginning or not, but it became obvious it was needed. You know how when you start doing work in your house, you discover the walls are never really square? I ran into that when I was laying out the checkerboard pattern. Gaps! So I covered them up with words and icons from the paper. A couple of layers of modge podge later - a serving tray that doubles as a game board!

The cards were fun and easy. I just love those cute little flip flops...I almost put some of them "walking" across the checkerboard, but I reined myself in! I used my Marvy Uchida punch to create the windows. I embossed the words on the front. I am self taught stamper, and I need to pick up a couple of tips on how to make sure the embossing powder is only where you want it to be...I had some stray bits on the front of the "destination" card which I masked with extra black paint dots. Could you tell?

I had so much fun playing with this paper! I can hardly wait for next month's kit! susie