Beachy Hearts 18th Wedding Anniversary Card

This 18th wedding anniversary card was made to order and the lady who ordered it told me "we love anything to do with the beach, sunsets, tranquility and two hearts linked is our thing!" so I had an excellent brief to follow when creating the card!

Here's the card and envelope together.

After musing for a while I came up with the idea of stamping beach scenes on two hearts which I could link by tying the two together.  The SU! 'Waterfront' stamp set was the ideal choice and after die cutting two hearts I got busy creating my scenes.  I started with the heart at the front and created the water first, masked that and then stamped just the top portion of the sun.  I inked the sun stamp with Mango Melody ink and added a touch of Real Red with a sponge dauber to get a rich, deep colour for a setting sun.  I masked the water again, applied Daffodil Delight and then some Flirty Flamingo inks for the sky using oval make up brushes and then I stamped the birds (from the 'High Tide' stamp set.)  On the background heart I stamped water again, a sandy beach, palm trees and a beach hut.  I used my Crop-A-Dile to punch holes in both hearts and I tied them together with linen thread tied in a bow.

I made a 5 3/4" square card base from Seaside Spray CS, cut a panel of Whisper White CS and added the wavy blue patterned paper and a narrow Night of Navy CS strip to the bottom of the panel.  I stamped the '18TH' in Night of Navy ink and fussy cut the numbers.  I stamped the words in Seaside Spray ink and cut the sentiment strip out using a fishtail flag die.  I popped the two hearts and the sentiment strip up on Dimensionals and added a banner and dot detail as a finishing touch.

Here's a closer look at the hearts.

Here's the inside of the card.  After stamping the wavy sentiment I die cut it using a matching die and  put more of the patterned paper at the bottom.  I brushed Daffodil Delight and Flirty Flamingo inks onto a scrap of Whisper White CS and punched two small hearts.

I used more of the lovely blue patterned paper to decorate the front and flap of the envelope and added a name label which I popped up.

It was a rainy, miserable day when I made this card - perfect crafting weather!  What a lovely time I had in my craft room creating this card - although clearing up wasn't exactly a breeze - and I just hope it's a hit with the anniversary couple!

Supplies:
Stamps: SU! 'Waterfront', 'High Tide' & 'Memorable Moments' sets, Apple Blossom 'Wavy Sentiments' set
CS: SU! Night of Navy, Seaside Spray & Whisper White
Patterned paper: SU! 'See a Silhouette' DSP pack
Ink: SU! Daffodil Delight, Early Espresso, Flirty Flamingo, Mango Melody, Mossy Meadow, Night of Navy, Real Red, Sahara Sand & Seaside Spray
Tools: X Cut 'Hearts' nesting dies set, MFT 'Fishtail Flags' Stax die set, SU! 'Heart to Heart', 'Banner' & 1/4" circle punches, Crop-A-Dile, Sizzix 'Card, Square Flip Its' die set, oval make up brushes, sponge dauber
Embellishments & accessories: SU! linen thread, Dimensionals
Ruth