Sailing into the 40s...

A good friend of ours is turning 39 next week. I loved the sketch challenge at Pals Paper Arts this week and couldn't wait to make our friend's card with it. To symbolize how he's sailing into his 40th year, I used my favorite stamp set from the Summer Mini, The Open Sea. This set is only available until August 31st so be sure to get it before it's gone!

With The Open Sea, I often use the Nautical Expedition DSP (also retiring with the Summer Mini). I wanted to do something a little different and used the new Beau Château DSP. As I've mentioned before, this is a *great* DSP if you're looking for something that can be used on both feminine AND masculine cards. It coordinates with Marina Mist, Very Vanilla, Soft Suede and Pink Pirouette. Since this is a masculine card, I made sure to not use any of the papers with Pink Pirouette ;) As you can see, I also flipped the sketch - it worked better this way with my images.

Tips & Tricks:
*SU! makes coordination EASY! Although I used Chocolate Chip for my card base and mats, the Beau Château DSP has Soft Suede in it. So, I used some Soft Suede 3/8" Taffeta Ribbon to bring that color out.

*Don't you just love how the Postage Stamp Punch adds a bit of interest to the card rather than plain squares?
*Stamping the map of the world on the Very Vanilla card stock in Crumb Cake adds a bit of subtle detail to the card while accentuating the 'sailing into the world of the 40's' aspect of the card.
*I love how the DSP doesn't have Pink Pirouette on all of the pages - how versatile!

I hope our friend loves his card... keep letting stamps bring out your creativity!