Whew boy! I was going through my memory card on my camera to start planning out cards to post here on the blog when I realized that I recorded a video for how to make my swap card I took with me on the Mediterranean cruise, but I didn’t actually ever edit and POST the video! Shows you how scattered I’ve been with summer this year. See… I thought as my kiddos got older, when they were out of school it would be easier. Instead, they have activities and way too much energy bouncing off the walls in our house! Nope, I wasn’t at all prepared for them to be out of school, but all the chaos has taught me valuable lessons for how to be better prepared next time. 
But better late than never, right?! So, here is the card I designed for the swap on the Mediterranean Cruise at the end of May:
I thought it was a fun, clean design… but then I thought it was even cooler when I noticed that folks who’s work I love like Mary Fish had actually posted a photo of my card from the display boards they made on the ship to her FB page. Good to know I wasn’t the only one who liked it!
Anyway, I put together a video so you could see how I made this card and some tips for putting it all together. So, if you are a visual person, here you go!
(note – if you are reading this in email, you can see the video here)
It all started with the idea that the wavy die cut from the Swirly Scribbles thinlits set would make great waves… and if you have waves, then you have to have a boat! And seriously, isn’t this the cutest little boat ever? Plus with you having controls for each part, it makes it easy to really customize it to the color combination of your card. (in this case I used Tip Top Taupe, Pool Party, Dapper Denim, So Saffron, and Peek-a-boo Peach.)
Then I had a sentiment I really liked from the Love and Affection stamp set and made a sort of rustic piece to go in the corner. Didn’t want everything to be too clean and smooth… Nope, gotta roughen up that cardstock! This is like my low effort way of making it feel nautical or like an old map and rope. Come on… squint with me and you can kind of see what I was going for… right?
And the last piece that was impossible to show on the video and probably impossible to show here… but I added some shimmer to my “ocean” by adding some clear wink of stella glimmer paint in between the blue cardstock lines of the waves. So the whole bottom part was shimmery which really makes it cool in person. On the computer… well, um… just trust me, it is cute!
So, I hope you enjoyed this idea for using the Swirly Bird bundle. Don’t worry I have more ideas to share soon as well… so if you don’t already have it, well, you just might want to get your own. And also, don’t forget about the Bonus Days promotion that is happening now! Get the bundle and some adhesive and you get a $5 coupon to use in August. Sweet! Get bonus days details here!
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