When I look outside, all I see is grey and that’s why I really miss the colors of summer. We had nothing but blue skies in Italy. I fell in love with the yellow of the Tuscan houses and the sunflowers. The pastel colors of the “gelato”. The olive green of our apartment door. And that special color combination of blue and brown reminds me of the beach. The bright colors of the summer clothes of the boys. The purple of the grapes. The pink flowers. Summer is so colorful!  If you like an inspirational color boost you should click on this link of Bed of Flowers. It was in my mailbox a few days ago and when I opened the photo gallery I was surprised to see so many gorgeous colors and perfect combinations. I would love to stay in that Bed&Breakfast and be surrounded by so much eye candy. Also I ran into the site of Tim Walker. He makes really stunning pictures. Looking at his selected images I wish I was a more creative photographer, my favourite pictures are the staircase with the lady with the blue dress and the glove with garden flowers. Which ones do you like? As I mentioned I love the colors of the beach and the sea so for this technique round I want to show you how I created a beach effect on my layout. I started with Gesso (a lot of it!). Then I used these little shapes (which my neighbour brought me as a gift) and covered them with Gesso. 

 With a brush and a piece of fabric I tried to create structure. When everything was dry I sprayed ink on it and also used chalk to get a sandy look.

 Together with the gorgeous materials of the September kit this is how my layout turned out to be:

Of course you can change the size or decorate it with beads and/or embroidery. There are so many possibilities but for this album I preferred to keep it simple.

 Enjoy! Petra