Shaped cards - featuring July's Creative Cafe Kit of the Month

Hi Everyone-

I love shaped cards, and while I usually reach for my Silhouette Cameo to help me create and generate my basic shape, I have also used punches and other objects like bowls and plates to trace and get me the results I need.  Today I'm using a shell shaped cookie cutter that I found in one of Michaels' $1.50 bins.  I think you could build a scene and alter it with some mixed media products as it's got this great color.  But before I altered it I wanted to use it to trace and shape this card.

First here's a look at my finished card

  

I used the shimmery blues for my card base - and to get the softer blue layer, I just cut away aprox. 1/4" in from my trace line of the cookie cutter.  In the base card I kept one side along the fold of my cardstock which is directly inline where my cute little mermaid is sitting.

Here's a look at the cookie cutter I used and  the straight edge on the LH side I placed on the fold of a 4 1/4 x 5 1/2" card base.  Just trace and cut and you're ready to start embellishing and finishing your card.

Here's a closer look so you can see the layers I made.

Card front Layers:
Sand-
I used my cookie cutter again to trace the lower portion of the shell to create my sand.  This time I'm using a small patterned paper from the Walking in Sunshine pad included in the kit.  I added a second layer behind and for added dimension I inked the edges with Antique Linen Distress Ink.

Water-
Just behind that I picked two other prints from the paper pad and using my water wave diecut, I cut out one from each color and stacked and layered.  My bottom or third layer, is the 'negative' portion of the darker blue punched paper.  This just gave me a little more interest without having to punch a third row.

I stamped and layered with my Mermaid and shells. I fussy cut them all out and with dimensional glue dots, I popped them up on my card front.  Finishing with a stamped phrase "life's a beach"  - there's a lot of sayings to pick from in this kit so have fun!  I also think this would be a cute page embellishment for any scrapbook page - 6x6, 8x8 or 12x12. 
 

Since my project is a card- I also did the inside, - I cut and traced again some sand for the bottom edge and added my stamped, inked and fussy cut sand castle.  The photo above also shows you a better view of the placement of my card fold.