So I thought it might be fun to think about the beautiful days of summer that are on a horizon.  Really, I am just excited about the idea of shorts and shoes with open toes, so I thought I would play around with my Woodware UK Flip-flops stamp set I picked up from White Rose Crafts.  And since I am trying to get back to some of my mixed media roots, I thought it would be really fun to stamp onto a canvas today.

Before I jump into the full pictorial tutorial, if you want to pick anything you see here today up from White Rose Crafts, feel free to use the code EK 15 to get 15% off your total purchase before taxes and shipping.

To start my project, I pulled out a cheep 5×7 canvas board that I picked up at my local big box store, the Woodware Flip-Flops stamp set and Doodles Paper Playground’s Juniper Sparkle Blends mix.  I really felt that Juniper sequin mix could look the the vast array of colors in the ocean.

Using some VersaFine Black Onyx ink, I stamped out the flipflop images onto my untreated canvas.

Then using my long ignored Distress Paints, I colored the ‘sand’ in with Vintage Photo and Fossilized Amber.

Over the still wet paint, I added some clear gesso, letting it be gloopy and uneven.  By doing this I created an uneven surface that was gritty in (literal) texture and looking like sand.

For the ocean, I created an ombre effect using Chipped Sapphire, Fade jeans, and Broken China Distress Paints.  I applied a thick layer of Heavy Body Matte Gel Medium.

Add a heavy layer of Juniper sequins over the gel medium and press it into the wet gel.

To help permanently hold those sequins in place and make the water look more like, well, water, apply a thick layer of soft body gel medium over the sequins and into the area around the sequins.  Let dry (this will take a day or two).

I added some color to the flip-flops using some Seedless Preserves Distress Paints.  Additionally add some stamping details to the sand using images from the stamp set.  Also add the sentiment.

What you get is a fun ocean themed summer canvas!

I just love how the sequins look submersed into a suspended state.

Needless to say one of my children has stolen this canvas, so at least with an eight year old it was a hit.

Let me know what you think?  Until then, happy crafting.