Keeper of the Lighthouse

Today I decided to set aside a little "me" time during my favorite part of the day (afternoon) to do a little stamping. I have been mulling over what stamp I wanted to use for my Dad's Father's Day card and when I saw Kimmie's sketch challenge today I knew exactly what I wanted to do.

I rediscovered this stamp last weekend during my big studio reorg. A few years back I made a series of frames for my Dad using a series of these lighthouse stamps by D. Morgan. I think he still has them hanging in his study, so next time I'm over there I'll try to get a picture so I can show you how different my style is from what it used to be! Although I absolutely love this image, it's always been a hard stamp to use on cards, due to it's size. Kimmie's layout was just perfect.

I started by stamping Keeper of the Lighthouse by Stamps Happen on Conqueror Diamond White cardstock and coloring in with prismacolor pencils and gamsol. Next I masked off the inner rectangle and lighthouse to sponge Bordering Blue ink around the frame and then cut out the image. Next I stamped a piece of Bordering Blue with Linen in the same color ink and then stamped the lighthouse image in Ancient Page Coal Black. I then lightly sponged around the edges of the cardstock with Bordering Blue ink and matted on a piece of Real Red cardstock. The DAD letters are miniature Scrabble tiles from Jolee's Boutique. The You're the Best is from Card Greetings I by Green Grass Stamps and is stamped in Real Red and punched out with the small tag punch and matted on the larger tag punch. I then glued everything down to a Bordering Blue 7" x 4.25" card base and added a knotted bow of May Arts double-sided ribbon at the top. I finished off with some White Glaze pen dots around the blue layers and highlights on the waves and seagulls. I also added a few little accents with a clear Stardust pen for a little bit of shimmer.