Happy Summer Henry

Summer's really winding down around here, and we're already seeing a drop in temperature and a few rainy days on the horizon. I've been meaning to create quite a few summer cards this year - goodness knows I've bought a-plenty of stamps and papers that have to do with summer. But I suppose creativity just took me elsewhere and before I knew it, we're halfway to September.

But when I came across this Wednesday's challenge over at Simon Says Stamp, I just took it as a sign that I really ought to make a summer card right now. So, I pulled out many summer goodies and got to work on a card.

For this card, I'm using Roberto's Rascal's Summer Henry stamp (which you can find over at C.C. Designs). I started by stamping him out in MFT's Chocolate Brown hybrid ink, then colored him in with Copics. I wanted the image to look warm and summery, so I mainly used warm earthy tones with a touch of bright blue. I also took the time to scribble in a quick background, with a sand under their feet and bright sky around them.

I wanted to make a more interesting shape, so I loosely cut around the image, allowing for some curves and squiggly lines. After the image was completely cut out, I used Vintage Photo distress ink and a foam applicator to lightly ink up the edges.

I created a standard A2 card base from a piece of white cardstock. While I had my paper cutter out, I also cut a 4 by 5 1/4" piece of dark navy cardstock. I grabbed a lovely sheet of paper from Echo Park's Walking on Sunshine 6x6. I just couldn't decide which side of paper to use - the fish, or the art deco waves, so I settled on both! I cut a fish panel to measure 3 3/4 by 5", and the waves to measure 2 1/4 by 5".

I adhered the art deco wave straight to the fish panel with my standard dot adhesive, then adhered it to the navy panel with foam squares. I then adhered the whole front panel to the card base.

I used foam squares to adhere Henry at the bottom of the card. I was a bit stumped as to what I wanted to do for a sentiment. I couldn't find a stamp set in my stash that was both about summer and in a font I liked. But then I came across these Elle's Studio Serendipity labels. The top label bad both the perfect colors and the sentiment I wanted to convey. So, I cut it out, matted it onto a piece of navy cardstock for support and adhered it to the card with foam squares.

Lastly, I added a few green and blue enamel dots in a few random spots.

Supplies:
Roberto's Rascals Summer Henry stamp (C.C. Designs)
MFT Hybrid Ink in Chocolate Brown
MFT Heavyweight Cardstock in Nightshift Blue
Neenah Solar White cardstock 110#lbs
Echo Park Walking on Sunshine 6x6 patterned paper
Elle's Studio Serendipity Label Snippets
Copics (E00, E11, E13, R20, R22, R35, R46, Y15, YR23, E35, E37, E42, E44, E47, B11, B32, B47, C4, C6, C8, E33, E39, E29, B000, B00)
Freckled Fawn Neon enamel dots
Tombow dot adhesive (pink)
Scrapbook Adhesives 3D foam squares 

I'm entering this card in Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday challenge, theme: Summer.