A Little Encouragement Through Cards

 I believe personalized cards can be emotionally healing and a great way to provide encouragement to our loved ones. Here is a card that is fit to do just that.

Today I found some quiet time that allowed me to  sit down and play with some inks and came up with this beauty.  I wanted to create a nice soft background and was tempted to try it with watercolor until I came across the ink daubers that had been sitting a drawer. I don't have much experience using the daubers but I now see myself using this technique more frequently. Here I used the daubers to apply the grassy area using Stampin'Up Certainly Celery (a retired color) and then a VersaMagic Dewdrop Chalk Sea Breeze. I was a little heavy in spots with the ink and found it to be a bit difficult to blend the color when that occurred. 

Prior to completing my background I stamped the tree image. The tree is part of Unity Stamp Company’s Itty Bitty collection, and is called “Pain & Strength.”  I then colored the tree using my Spectrum Noir markers. I am starting to understand the process of blending with these markers but improvement is being made with each attempt.  The sentiment is one of two that is included with the Pain & Strength stamp set. I stamped the sentiment using my Misti and Memento Tuexedo Black ink and then restamped it using Versamark. I then coated it with clear embossing powder and hit it with my heat gun to give it a nice shiny look.

Once the image was completed I used Jaded Blossom's stitched card mat dies to cut out the card front and then applied it to the front of an A2 sized top fold card that I cut from 110lb cardstock.