'I Must Go Down To The Sea Again....'

Hi everybody ! Toni here to share a layout with you today. A couple of weeks ago 25 members of our family met up for a camping weekend at a place in North Wales called 'Shell Island'. It's a wonderful place and we all have happy memories from the numerous visits we've made there over the years. There were three generations of us for this particular trip and it was great to see all the little ones enjoying the shell covered beaches, rock pools and sand dunes. Needless to say we were all taking photos and I couldn't resist using this one of my beautiful great niece Evie . She is sitting among the rock pools, looking very intently at a tiny pebble caught between her toes. I love her windswept hair !
I used Tim Holtz's July Tag as my inspiration for this piece. He showcased some very clever ideas for adding texture to his Sand and Sea die cuts and I was keen to have another go at these techniques. I started this layout with a piece of card board that measures around  7" x 9". I ripped off some of the surface to reveal the corrugations, and painted it with Fresco Paint in a colour called Stone.

I added a bit of stenciling using a Layering Stencil called Dot Fade and Chipped Sapphire Distress Paint. I then used Tim's idea for making sand, with Distress Embossing Powder, UTEE, and  Distress Glitter all mixed together with a good splodge of Glossy Accents. I applied this all around the edges with a spatula and left it to dry while I worked on the die cuts.

I followed Tim's instructions for adding a crackle finish to the two seahorses with Clear Rock Candy Distress Crackle paint. Once this was dry, I lightly brushed the surfaces with Luminarte Silk Paint. The sand dollar was painted with Antique Linen Distress Paint and then heat embossed with Old Paper Distress Embossing Powder. The starfish were treated similarly but after embossing, I painted them with Victorian velvet Distress Paint.

 I couldn't resist adding this quote which is a rather irreverent parody of John Masefield's beautiful  poem Sea Fever, written by Spike Milligan. It seemed more appropriate for this picture and I think Evie will enjoy it !

For your inspiration, here's a picture of some of the shells the children collected. So now you can see why it's called Shell Island ! x

Here are some of the products I've used that Kim stocks in the wonderful eclectic Paperie Shop. She has also taken delivery of loads of Tim Holtz's newly released products so it's well worth hopping over there, especially if you want to get ahead with your Christmas crafting !  

Tim Holtz Alterations - Bigz Die - Sand & Sea	Tim Holtz Distress Glitter - Antique Linen	Tim Holtz Layering Stencil - Dot Fade	Core-dinations Tim Holtz Kraft Core 6x6" Nostalgic Collection	Tim Holtz Distress Paint - Chipped Shappire
Tim Holtz Distress Paint - Victorian Velvet	Tim Holtz Distress Paint - Antique Linen	Tim Holtz� Distress� Markers - Vintage Photo	Distress Ink Pad - Gathered Twigs	Ranger - Distress Crackle Paint - Rock Candy 1 oz.
Splash of Color - Silks Acrylic Glaze - Azurite	Splash of Color - Silks Acrylic Glaze - Sapphire	Splash of Color - Silks Acrylic Glaze - Teal Zircon	Tim Holtz (Stampers Anonymous) Nautical Blueprint Stamp	Tim Holtz Alterations - Decorative Strip - Spring Greenery
Inkssesentials - Glossy Accents 2 oz.	Ranger Heat It Craft Tool