By the Bay Suite Week!

Hello and welcome to today’s blog post, which kicks off my week of By the Bay Suite! If you shy away from 6” x 6” DSP because you may find it difficult to be creative with due to the size limit (unlike 12” x 12” DSP), then this week is for you! I totally understand this dilemma and sometimes get in a rut myself, just cutting the 6” x 6” sheet into a 4” x 5 ¼”, ¾” x 4”, and 2” x 6” pieces for one card, which is pretty basic. So, this week I am going to show you how to stretch your 6” x 6” DSP and make some “not so basic” cards! I will start off the week showing you how to make two cards from one sheet of DSP, next post will be a fun fold with two sheets of DSP, and then ending the week with using the leftover DSP from the fun fold with another sheet of the DSP to make two more cards! Even if you don’t have this suite (you should, it’s so fun!), you can use the card layouts for any other 6” x 6” DSP.

Since I am making two cards, I cut this design from the By the Bay DSP into two ¾” x 6” strips and two 4 ½” x 3” layers:

The base layer for the card front is Pool Party cardstock, cut at 4” x 5 ¼”, which I first used the edgelit die to die-cut each side of the cardstock, embossed with the Timber 3D Embossing Folder, and use a sponge dauber with Coastal Cabana ink to distress the sides:

For the rest of the card front, you will need:

1. I used the same edgelit die on each side of the DSP layer and used a sponge dauber with Coastal Cabana ink to distress the sides.

2. On Basic White cardstock, stamp the crab, oyster shell, and knobbed whelk in Gray Granit ink and stamp the spiral seashell in Soft Suede ink. The crab is colored in with a Light Balmy Blue Stampin’ Blends, the oyster shell in Light Balmy Blue, Pool Party, and Pale Papaya Stampin’ Blends, the knobbed whelk in Light Pale Papaya and Pool Party Stampin’ Blends, and the spiral seashell with a Light Pale Papaya Stampin’ Blends. These are all die-cut out with the coordinating dies.

3. From a Gold Foil Sheet, you will need one of each size die-cut shell.

4. Use both seagrass dies to die-cut out one of each from Mint Macaron and Soft Sea Foam cardstocks.

5. You will need three 5mm Opal Rounds, not pictured.

To assemble the card front, adhere the DSP layer to the embossed cardstock base layer, adhere one of each color/size of seagrass in the bottom corners, adhere the die-cut seashells over the seagrass, dimensionals to adhere the two gold seashells and blue crab, this piece is then adhered to a Sahara Sand cardstock card base, cut at 4 ¼” x 11” and scored at 5 ½”, and then place the three Opal Rounds as shown:

For the inside, cut a piece of Basic White cardstock at 4” x 5 ¼”, stamp the sentiment in Coastal Cabana ink, and adhere the ¾” strip of DSP along the bottom, trimming off the excess:

For the coordinating Basic White Medium Envelope, stamp the crab in Gray Granite ink and lightly color in (use the brush tip) with a Light Balmy Blue Stampin’ Blends:

If using the edgelit die is a little cumbersome for you or maybe you want to try this as well for the second card, you can “rough up” the edges of the DSP and cardstock with scissors:

How fun is this card??? Just remember that you will need double of everything to make two cards! A little trick that I can pass along, just in case you didn’t know, is that when using the edgelit die, just place the edge of the die along the edge of the cardstock and the flat end of the die on your cutting plate, reverse of having the whole die on your DSP, which leaves that dreaded “mark”. Since it doesn’t matter which way the edgelit faces, why not keep your DSP nice and pretty! BTW, I did have to make the crab a Chesapeake Blue Crab since the Chesapeake Bay is right near me!!

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I hope today’s project inspires you to get creative! Please contact me if you have any questions about the products used on this or any other project. I hope you enjoyed today’s blog and thanks for stopping by!

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