Sea, Sun and B(l)each

After a non existing spring and a seriously lacklustre start of the summer, all I can do is dream of beaches in the sun, so this Crafty Individual challenge is wellcome.
I knew at once the stamp I was going to use and that a paper from the Crafty Individuals background paper book "The seaside" would be involved.

The difficulty I have with designer papers is I loathe covering them, as they are quite beautiful without adding anything, but... it had to be done! I decided to make it my own by adding some stencilling with a spray, distress ink and foil on the upper left corner, as well as stamping in 2 other corners. I like the effect of the Sea shell stamped in Frosted crystal embossing powder peeking out from underneath the printed seashell of the paper on the right hand side.

I stamped the Life's a Beach Girlfriends (CI-284) image on a distress inked background and bleached out the details. The saying is embossed with white powder.
I cut out part of the starfishes and added some gauze to frame the stamped panel.

I quite liked the card at this stage but, was it enough? In the end I enlarged my "canvas" and made it into an 8"x8" card by adding an embossed and sanded sheet of Coredination White wash, which is big for a card, certainly bigger than I have ever done.

Was is it  better as a 6x6 or does the embossed frame enhance the panel ? Please give me your opinion in the comments below.

I am also entering this card in the Ali-Craft blog challenge (open theme).