Lighthouse on the Beach: Creating a Set of Four Cards for a Friend

Hello my crafty and creative friends!

While I've been busy creating cards...it's been a while since I've shared a card here on my blog...so I thought that I'd check in...and share a set of four card that I created as a gift, for a friend.

I think that it's nice just to extend kindness to someone to let them know that they're appreciated...loved...and are being thought of.

My friend lives on the Long Island Sound, on the water...and so I wanted to create a set of lighthouse cards for her.

I knew that I wanted to use Blue Knight Rubber Stamps LIGHTHOUSE on the BEACH stamp.and I also knew that I wanted to use PanPastels to "paint" the images.
While I wanted to use the same image for all four cards...I knew that I didn't want the cards to be identical...I wanted slight variations in the skies that I created.

PanPastels blend, layer and apply like liquid paint....but they're dry...so they were ideal for creating the skies that I had in mind....and it just so happens that my favorite thing to do with PanPastels is blending colors to create beautiful skies

For each of the cards that I'm sharing today, I used Blue Knight Rubber Stamps Select PanPastel Palettes... The SUNRISE and SUNSET PALETTE and the DAY and NIGHT PALETTE.
I also used the COLORLESS BLENDER and a few other colors that Blue Knight sells separately.

I also used the Blue Knight Rubber Stamps BIRDS II stamp set to add the gulls to each card.

So here we go...
My little set of 4 LIGHTHOUSE on the BEACH cards....

For the first card, I wanted a dusk-like sky...with subtle blues and a hint of the end of day Summer sun

I used colors from both of the Blue Knight PanPastel Palettes to create the sky...as well as the water and coastal and rocky areas surrounding the lighthouse.

For the second card....I wanted to create an early evening sky with hints of Summer sun set colors.
I used a similar combination of blended colors...but I wanted the colors to be deeper...so I didn't blend and add a lot of the lighter PanPastel colors.

You can see the purple and coral like colors higher in the sky and the deeper blue tones closer to the water. The Sunrise and Sunset Palette and the Day and Night Palettes had all of the colors needed to complete this card. I used some of the colors "straight up" and others were used together to blend and create new colors.

After I created the end of day skies...I wanted to move on to creating 2 Summer sunset skies.
I combined yellows, orange and reds with some white and then blended the colors as I wanted with the colorless blender.
The colorless blender softens the differences in the colors and blends them together for a smooth  look.
The landscape areas of each card is colored in a very similar way...adding color to some sandy ground..some rocks...and a little bit of beach grass...

The seagulls show up nicely against the color of the sky

The second sunset sky is similar to the first, but this time, I added more red to create a deep coral like color to parts of the sky and I also added some white to add the suggestion of light to some areas of the sky.

I used LCI Metallic card stock for the largest mat layer on each card....and I matted each image piece with black matte card stock. The image pieces were positioned with fun foam, for added dimension.

In the end...I was really happy with this set of cards, and I am hoping that my friend will like them too.

Adding color to stamped images with PanPastels always opens the door to so many creative and "coloring"  possibilities, because they blend so beautifully.

While I enjoy creating water color and inked backgrounds...A LOT....
I'm really glad that I opted to go with PanPastels for this set of cards.

Before I thank you for visiting today...
I  also want to share that from July 24th -July 31st I'll be dedicating my blog to sharing all of my Design Team projects with you , created with the Blue Knight Rubber Stamps July new release stamps....
I'd love it if you followed along that week....
As always...I'll have a giveaway that week as well!

About the supplies used to for today's cards:
You'll find the LIGHTHOUSE on the BEACH stamp HERE
The BIRDS II stamp set HERE
and...the PanPastel PALETTES are HERE

Thanks for visiting today...
Wishing you a beautiful Sunday
Michelle.