Aloha, all, and welcome to the Blog Tour for the SUDSOL Stampin' Up! Demonstrator Online Community!  Did you just come from Sharon Field's Blog?  Isn't that "stamping off" used with the embossing folders just the most wonderful technique!  I shall definitely be using that and really, really soon!  I do that a LOT with my fellow SUDSOLers' work!

     Now on to my project for the tour!

     I know that you often read my line about a stamp set being my favorite.  But I have been waiting for almost 5 years for a stamp set to replace the retired set with sea shells called, "Seaside."  So when I saw the new Stampin' Up! Stamp Set, "By the Seashore," I was elated! 

     "Now how important can a stamp set be?," you might ask.  Well, for this gal who has yet to complete the scrapbook of her wedding, it's VERY important – because our wedding was on the beach in North Carolina's Outer Banks, and my wedding theme was Sea Shells!  It's a long story between the 2006 wedding and today.  But what happened in 2008 is that I became a Stampin' Up! demonstrator just in time to see "Seaside" retire.  As I'm sure you DO know, I am a Stampin' Up! Only paper crafter, so that was a bit of a blow to my plans for my wedding album.  Now it's, "Game on!"

     I'm sure you know that between June 1st (when I could purchase the new stamp set) and now I have NOT completed my wedding scrapbook.  But I do want to share one of the ideas that I have for using it by sharing my very first project with "By the Seashore" with you.

     This is a photo frame, and the first photo I put in the frame was of our Wedding Cake.  Do you see those sea shells on the cake?  These stamps are going to be perfect for framing it in my scrapbook, too, though probably with a different set of colors.  The frame holds a 3-1/4" x 3-1/2" photo, and the photos easily slip in and out. 

     Here's another wedding photo of me and my new husband cutting that gorgeous cake (and yes, I did save not only the top layer, but lots of those chocolate sea shells for a later time!).

     There are 6 stamps in this stamp set, and I've included 5 of them in this project.  The 6th stamp is a crab and it will be put to good use in some of the scrap pages, I'm sure.  But today I just wanted the shells.  The most visible of the shells are those that I watercolored on the new style of Stampin' Up!'s Watercolor Paper, and I can assure you that it is just as good as – if not better than! – the older style sold by Stampin' Up!

     I began the watercoloring by stamping all the shells using Jet Black Stazon Ink, guaranteed not to bleed when you begin the watercoloring.  I colored each stamp in lightly with Pool Party Ink using an Aqua Painter.  Then I added some darker Pool Party sections, followed by some accents using Island Indigo and finally some Elegant Eggplant highlights.  I also stamped some Elegant Eggplant and Island Indigo Card Stock with matching inks, and cut out all of the shells before arranging them on the frame.

     My final touch with the shells was to lightly stamp some with both the Eggplant and Indigo ink on the Naturals White card stock that forms the background for the frame.

     Oh, and those lovely Frames!  The opening for the photo as well as the two shapes surrounding the photo are all from the new Sizzix Floral Frames Framelits Set.  I can see that this will also be a favorite of mine, and likely in the scrapbook, too!

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     I'll be writing a tutorial for making this frame later this summer, and I'll be sharing it on the SUDSOL website – for any demonstrator who's a member to use for workshops and classes for their own customers!  Don't forget that all demonstrators have the opportunity for a TWO-WEEK FREE TRIAL OF SUDSOL! I've belonged to SUDSOL almost since the Seaside stamp set retired, and have benefited from it immeasurably – and I'm sure you will, too!

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     And now for a more recent photo for my frame.

     My husband and I just returned from a vacation here in Hawaii – a special treat for his special birthday!  It was the colors in this photo of the resort where we vacationed that inspired the colors for this frame.  We had a wonderful time, and I think I'll be using By the Seashore for scrapping this vacation, too!

CONTINUE on the Blog Tour
Sharon Field	Ginger Morgan