Well, Sale-A-Bration has gone into hybernation for the rest of the year and Spring is suppose to be in the air.  Not sure what happened to Spring, but weather in the low 30's is not very Spring-y to me.  Come on rain and warm weather!

So, on that note, my regular stamping ladies requested to have a class creating Sympathy cards.  I know, I know....it's not the favorite subject, but everyone needs a small (I did say small) stash of Thinking of You cards amongst the Happy Birthday, Congratulations, Valentine's Day, and the favorite 'Hello' cards.  I decided to focus on the Peaceful Petals stamp set found in the Occasions Mini catalog.  I find this set to be very soothing....especially, when it comes to watercoloring.  Let's take a look....

I really love the color combinations found in the Venetian Romance Designer Series Paper.  There are a few busy-type designs, but I think I found a good mix to settle them down and create a very elegant and soothing layout.  The card base is Very Vanilla and I used the Envelope Punch Board to corner punch the right-hand side of the card. I used Very Vanilla to matte each layer of designer paper, too.  I love vintage-y styled cards, so I did a lot of distressing of the designer paper using a sponge and Soft Suede Classic ink.  The flower image is inked and stamped using Jet Black StazOn ink onto Stampin' Up! Watercolor Paper.  StazOn ink is permanent ink and it will not smear nor smudge when I use my Aqua Painter to color in the flower.  I used a combination of Tangerine Tango, Crisp Cantaloupe, Crushed Curry, and Soft Sky to watercolor the image.

EASY WATERCOLORING TIP:  before opening your ink pad, press the lid against the ink pad so that you have ink on the lid when you open it up.  Then take your Aqua Painter to pick up the ink from the lid versus trying to get ink from your foam pad.  When the ink is in the lid, you have the opportunity to pick up the ink color to transfer and color dark shades, or water it down a bit for lighter coloring.

The sentiment (also from Peaceful Petals) was inked in Early Espresso and stamped onto Very Vanilla and layered onto Soft Suede cardstock that was punched with the 1-1/4" Scallop Circle Punch.  Both the flower panel and the sentiment were popped up using Stampin' Dimensionals.  The finishing touches included our lovely 3/8" Soft Suede Taffeta Ribbon and a little bit of bling with a Basic Rhinestone Jewel.

There you have it....what do you think?

• Join my Stampin' Up! team for $99 and hand-select $125 worth of Stampin' Up! product from any of our current catalogs.  PLUS, your Convention Registration is FREE!  Contact me for more details.
• Join me at www.mypaperpumpkin.com and get your Paper Pumpkin Kit delivered right to your door every month.  Don't forget....the subscription will ask for a Demonstrator's name....I'd love it if you chose me...Lori Mueller, as your Demonstrator.
• Shop the Clearance Rack for bargains up to 80% off!  New additions to the list....get them while supplies last!
• Stampin' Rewards = Free products with $150+ orders.
• Check out the latest downloads for My Digital Studio, these can now be added to Customer and Workshop orders!

May God Bless You and Your Family!!