Add Coastal Charm to Ocean themed cards with this easy technique!

Can’t you just hear the alluring waves dancing energetically against the rugged rocks nestled below this lighthouse?

Send a splash of joy with this stunning handmade card, designed to evoke the calming rhythm of waves crashing harmoniously against the coast!

This ocean waves technique will add coastal charm to your sea themed greetings!

This card was created for PolkaDoodles Design Team. The challenge was to create a card using an object from PolkaDoodles digital images to create a September Birthday Card. So many options - whatever would I choose?! My Son’s birthday is in September so instantly I thought of him. Last year he spent his birthday in Nova Scotia, Canada which led to the creation of this card.

The Lighthouse from Winnie Starfish/Sandcastles proved to be just perfect for the background technique I had planned to apply to this card. I blended using PolkaDoodles Blending Brushes with tones of blue/green distress inks onto the background using a random pebble stencil for the water, and a tea colored ink for sandy beach. A pallet knife and Grit paste allowed me to mimic the crashing waves at the shoreline of the lighthouse.

“I Sea it’s Your Birthday” was the perfect sentiment for this charming coastal creation. Dive in and give this card a try!

How To:

Working on a bit of an angle to create a coastal shoreline on a 5 1/2 x 4 1/4 layer of white cardstock use a stencil that will be suitable to create the effects of some type of water. The stencil I used was actually a pebble background stencil, however it worked perfectly to create this water look. I blend lightly using Distress Inks - Patina & Broken Glass, randomly blending between the 2 colors in the areas that were to be the water on the card front.

Next: Working diagonally again from the bottom side of this layer use a tea colored Distress Ink to blend a sand colored shoreline. Add dots of the same ink if you have a dotty little stamp in your stash and if not, don’t worry, you can use a Copic Marker of a similar color to the sand ink and just add tiny little dots here and there to create a sand effect. ***Do not blend all the way to the water - leave about a half inch space between the water and the shoreline. So you will have the water and the shoreline and a white space running between them.

Here is where the magic happens: Using grit paste a pallet knife carefully place globs ( for lack of a better word ) of grit paste into the white space between the blend areas on the card front. When I say blobs I mean put a nice little snowbank of types across this section. Use the pallet knife to swoop into grit paste from the water side and pull it into a wave towards the sandy beach area. Do this all the way across the shoreline. It will be lumpy and bumpy, that’s ok.

Watching paint dry: The next step is like watching paint dry - so don’t. Go off make another card, do your laundry, coffee with a friend, grocery shopping or a great movie because the drying time for this process is going to take time.

I actually waited until the next day to go back to my card after leaving it flat to dry overnight.

Last step: After I was sure the grit paste was fully dry I used a finger dauber and white pigment ink and dabbed the ink onto the crest areas of my waves. This creates that nice foamy texture that the waves of a shoreline would have.

Just lightly add the pigment ink to create nice crests on the waves and then leave this to dry again. Pigment ink needs time to dry.

Preparing the card: While waiting for the pigment ink to dry, color the lighthouse image and cut it out. Trim up the sentiment. Cut a background panel of 5 1/2 x 4 1/4 to back the card front layer onto. Also cut a card base of 8 1/2 x 5 1/2, Scored 4 1/4.

Trim the card front layer to 4 1/8 x 5 3/8 and adhere to the backing layer.

Using foam tape attach the lighthouse in the desired position on the card front.

Adhere the greeting.

Add rhinestones or faux pebbles for added interest to the card front.

Adhere the card front panel to the card base.

This card captures the breezy essence of coastal beauty, complete with a delightful wash of colours that transports you to the shore.

It perfectly shares a birthday message or it’s an ideal card for anyone who loves the ocean's symphony - just change up the greeting.

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