#TGIFC540 — Beautiful Arches | Swimming In Stamps

Hello and Happy Friday! For this week’s TGIF Challenge, we have a theme of “beautiful arches.” That made me think of the wonderful vacation my husband and I just took this July. Part of it included several days hiking in Arches National Park! It’s one of our favorite places in Utah, and while it’s super hot in July, we headed out early to beat the sun and still enjoyed the sights.

For my card, I decided to make a birthday card for my husband commemorating one of our favorite days during the vacation when we woke up extra-early to make it to the park and hike to the iconic Delicate Arch in time to see the sunrise. It was spectacular!

The card includes three arches depicting three key points of our hike — 1) starting out in the dark, 2) seeing the sun rise, and then 3) hiking back down in the daylight.

I used the Scenic Adventure Bundle, Everyday Arches Dies, and Gallery Bloom Dies to decorate my card, along with the Everyday Skies Designer Series Paper. Most of the backgrounds, mountains, bushes, and all the greenery in the foreground were cut from different papers in that pack. Then, I also added some mountains cut from Cajun Craze Cardstock.

The Everyday Skies Designer Series Paper has so much variety that I simply looked for prints with the right colors. Then, I used Blending Brushes to add Night of Navy and Cajun Craze ink to the mountains and bushes for shading. For the greenery in the foreground, I used the Gallery Blooms Dies to die-cut pieces from the same designer series paper and then added both Mossy Meadow and Cajun Craze ink for a totally different look.

Believe it or not, when I looked at our photos of the day, there was lots of greenery amongst the red rocks and formations!

In the background, I blended Balmy Blue ink onto Basic White Cardstock and then dry embossed the whole layer with the Soft Waves 3D Embossing Folder. The waves made me think of the erosion marks on the red rocks and hills.

On the inside of the card, I added more die-cut mountains and a sentiment from the Simply Said stamp set.

The Scenic Adventure Bundle is the BEST. I love that I can make a huge variety of cards with the same bundle.

Be sure to check out all the designers’ projects this week by clicking over to the TGIF Challenges Blog for even more inspiration with our theme “beautiful arches.”

Have a fantastic day!

Purchase products from my online store to qualify to receive free exclusive project tutorials. This month’s PDF includes 12 beautiful tutorials designed by my demonstrator friends and I to inspire your paper crafting! The projects feature products from the 2025 Annual Catalog, Online Exclusives, and Sept-Dec Mini Catalog. Enjoy!