
Hi, Stampers!
The Alphabet Challenge has a new theme starting today – “W is for Water.” Oh, now this is a theme I can do! Firstly, I lived in Florida for quite a while and I have a husband who is more than mildly obsessed with the ocean. So, I pulled out all of the stamp sets I had and just started to play. In the end, Let’s Set Sail was the winner, but Whale Done was a close second when I decided that a little “life” (ok, maybe it’s a big one) could be cute coming out of the opening! The shadow box is such a fun card to make and this card will actually fit into an A2 envelope.
Once you finish here, I hope you visit our Alphabet Design Team gallery for some great inspiration and play along!


My secrets!
- Firstly, the card base was made with two pieces of thick white cardstock, cut at 5-1/2″ x 6-1/2″ and scored at 1/2″ and 1″ on each end of the 6-1/2″ side.
- After that, I cut the By the Bay designer paper to 5-3/8″ x 3-7/8″ and glued it down to the back piece.
- Then, for the front piece, I went with the Layering Diorama dies and used the larger die to cut the white card base.
- Finally, I cut Crumb Cake cardstock to 5-3/8″ x 3-7/8″ and cut out the hole with the smaller die. Then, I glued it into place. (Note: this layer will strengthen the front so I highly recommend doing one.)
- Now, the card base is done, but I didn’t adhere it together till the rest of the pieces were done.
And now, the fun part!
- Once that was done, I stamped the sailboat from Let’s Set Sail, using Sweet Sorbet for the sails and Crumb Cake for the boat. After that, I punched them out with the Sailboat Punch. Then, I decided to cut white cardstock with the punch one more time to give the boat some dimension.
- Then, I stamped the whale with Night of Navy ink and punched it out with the Whale Punch. After that, I cut a small piece of window sheet, and glued it to the back of the whale so that the extended piece would reach the card base on the right side. Then, I cut another whale from white cardstock to cover the back.
- After that, I used the seaweed dies to cut white cardstock and colored them with Stampin’ Blends. Then, I cut out two shells and colored them with Stampin’ Blends. Once that was done, I layered them together onto the card front and added a few of the adorable Flat Pearls for a small touch of bling.
- Finally, before adhering the two pieces of the card base together, I stamped the sentiment with Night of Navy ink and glued the window sheet so that the whale could look like it was about to jump through the opening.

Then, on the flip side…
- So, the flip side of the card has to look as cute as the front, right? In order to do that, I cut out more By the Bay designer paper, and cut out white cardstock with the large deckled rectangle die.
- Then, I stamped the sand and shells stamp with Crumb Cake and the bird stamp with Night of Navy. (I actually cut one of the birds off the stamp to make sure I didn’t mess it up!) Then, the two panels were layered together.
- Finally, I stamped the sentiment in Night of Navy ink onto Crumb Cake cardstock. Then, I cropped it out with the Rectangle Postage Punch and cut the top and the bottom to look more like a sign, then sponged the edges to age it a bit. After that, I cut a thin piece of cardstock and added it to the panel to place the sign on the card with just a little wonkiness for fun.
I’m sharing my card with these challenges:
- 613 Avenue Create
- A Place To Start
- Crafty Catz
- Critter Crazy
- Ellibelle’s Crafty Wednesday
- Pammie’s Inky Pinkies Challenges
- The Paper Funday
- A Perfect Time to Craft
Before You Go!
I love hearing from you! Please leave a comment if you have any questions or comments about my project today.
If you enjoyed my project today, please be sure to…
- Visit my Gallery and Fun Fold Gallery for lots of ideas, and…
- Enter the Creative Creases Challenge HERE with any fun fold card!
- Complete this contact information to receive a birthday card from me!
- Follow me on Pinterest
- Finally, want to know what’s new with SU? Check it out HERE

Thanks for scrolling to the end!

A fun scene Debbie,the whale reminds me of Moby-Dick
What a great ocean-themed fun fold card! I love the scene you created here and the way you carried the theme over onto the back, too!
The inside is as great as the outside! Love the water obsession! ( me, too)
Fabulous card design Debbie! Like the kindness saying also.
Thanks for playing along with Paper Funday Challenges!
Fantastic card fold and great theme! Thanks for playing along at the Paper Funday Challenge and we hope you’ll play again soon.
Donna xx
So beautiful and loving the nautical theme! Wise words at the end… always start with coffee 🙂
Thanks for sharing again at my Crafty Wednesday challenge!
Ellie
Ellibelle’s Corner
Debbie, it’s beautiful and has me longing to visit the ocean! Thanks for joining us at 613 Avenue Create. I hope we see you on the front porch again soon!
Hugs, Em
613 Avenue Create DT
Creative Em my blog
Very pretty card. Love the scene and depth. So glad you shared over at Crafty Catz.
Great card and beautifully executed! Thanks so much for sharing with us at A Place to Start!
Hugz,
Chana Malkah
Fabulous card – love the die cut in the front.
Thanks for joining us at the Critter Crazy Challenge.
Helen x
DT