Celebrate the beach life with this fun surf van card!

These fun beachside vehicles are making a HUGE comeback and I just had to make a cool surf van card to show off these new dies from Kittie Kraft by Rubbernecker. I made sure that every detail was accounted for with these dies and I just love how they turned out! I scaled it on the smaller size so it can be part of any scene card and thanks to it’s retro-modern styling, it can be used for vintage themed cards as well as up to the minute trendy cards.  You can see all the product links at the bottom of this post.

The Card Base and Ocean Sky Background

• Use white cardstock to cut an A2 size card  base.
• Place a straight mask across the middle of the white card base and then use a blender brush to apply blue Ink to the water area.
• Remove the mask and then use the blender brush to create the sky area using blue ink.
• Cut the blue frame using the two largest dies from the Nested Rectangle set.
• Attach strips of mounting tape to the back of the frame and attach it to the card base.

The Palm Trees, Sand and Foliage

• Cut the sand layers using Kraft cardstock and the Deckle Hill die and trim to fit the frame.
• Apply a light layer of light brown ink to the sand using a blender brush.
• Apply strips of mounting tape to the sand layer and attach it to the frame.
• Cut the palm trees using green and Kraft cardstock.  Color the palm trunks using a mini applicator and brown ink.
• Attach the palm fronds to the trunks using glossy accents and gently form the fronds with your fingers.
• Tuck the palm trees in behind the sand and attach to the scene using thin strips of mounting tape.
• Cut a few sections of the reeds foliage, tuck them in behind the sand and attach them around the base of the palm trees.

Beach Van and Surf Boards

• Cut the van sections using colored cardstock of your choice.  Pro Tip:  I searched on Google for pictures of the vintage vans back in the day to see the authentic colors that were used.
• Use glossy accents and double stick tape to assemble the van sections.
• Use the same colors of cardstock to cut the surfboard from the woody set and the surfboard from the lifeguard set.
• Attach the surfboard to the top of the van using glossy accents.
• Attach the van to the sand using a large piece of mounting tape.
• Use mounting tape to attach the full surfboard to the sand.

Finish the Scene

• Cut the slimline cloud section using white cardstock and attach it to the frame using ATG adhesive. Pro Tip:  After attaching the van to the scene I noticed that there was way too much sky showing and made the scene look bottom heavy.  The addition of the cloud layer was the perfect way to add another element to make the scene more balanced.
• Use white cardstock to cut the seagulls and lightly color their wings using gray ink and a mini applicator.
• Apply small pop dots to the back of the gulls and attach them to the sky area.  Pro Tip:  Adding the gulls to the sky area is another way to draw the eye up from the heavy weighted scene bottom and to also add another interesting element to the scene.

Here is a link to my flower power Beach Truck and Surfboards post showing another beach scene with a vehicle.  Check out my Beach Card Category if you would like more beach card inspiration.  Be sure to check out the complete New Die Release by Rubbernecker if you haven’t had the chance yet. There are so many fun summer and masculine dies to play with. There are also four new Clear Stamp Sets and one of them has a coordinating die included. 

Does this make you want to pack everything up and head off to the beach? And what about other times of the year? I can picture this surf van card easily converted into some sort of fall or winter holiday element and cannot WAIT to see how YOU use it!  

Nested Rectangle Die Cut Set 5003D [ RBB ] 5408D Beach Van Die [ RBB ] 5410-03D Seagulls Die [ RBB ] 5411-03D Reeds Die [ RBB ] 5212-06D Palm Trees Die Cut [ RBB ] 5328-01D Slimline Clouds Die [ RBB ] 5212-07D Woody Die Cut [ RBB ] 5212-05D Lifeguard Tower Die Cut [ RBB ] Color Fuse Set #9 [ RBB ] Color Fuse Set #3 [ RBB ] Color Fuse Set #12 [ RBB ] PanPastel Sofft Applicators 12/Pkg [ RBB ] Glossy Accents .5oz [ RBB ] Scotch Advanced Tape Glider & Tape [ RBB ] Scor-Tape .5″ X 27yd [ RBB ] Scor-Tape .125″X27yd [ RBB ] Crossover II Fabric & Paper Cutting… [ RBB ]