The little things that make me happy here on Bliss Road~~Emily Keaton

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Forest Sympathy

I've been itching to play the Splitcoast Sketch Challenge SC300 ever since it was issued last week, and I finally got the chance to do so last night!! Wow, 300 weekly sketches--that's quite a milestone. It was perfect for a CAS sympathy card I'd been picturing in my mind for a while.

This is a SNEAK PEEK of a new clear stamp set scheduled to be released by Mark's Finest Papers next week. This time I am using A Walk in the Woods (along with the birch tree trunks from an older set, Stinky Situation). A Walk in the Woods features a variety of gorgeous tree images (I used one in the background stamping on the saffron panels) and a variety of comforting sentiments, including this "with Sympathy" sentiment. My inside sentiment reads "Peace be with you."

I just adore the birch trunks image! And so versatile--it can be used as a background, or, because it is so detailed, as a focal point, as I did here. I stamped them in Versamark on watercolor paper, covered with black embossing powder, and heat set. Then I had a lovely time watercoloring, the coloring method that makes me happiest!!

I also incorporated these challenges:
I never got a chance to tell you about our geocaching adventures on Saturday. We had a blast!! We found two caches hidden in a nearby conservation area that we'd never even heard of. It is tucked in a residential area about a mile and a half away. I was amazed by the forest we walked through--nicely groomed, well-marked, wide forest paths through really tall, widely spaced pines and hardwoods. It was so peaceful!! It seemed like we were miles from civilization, yet in reality we were only a stone's throw from folks' backyards. We found our geocaches without too much trouble; the kids loved checking out the trinkets stashed in each one, exchanging swag from their personal collections for cool finds in the geocache; and we all enjoyed an easy hike. A restorative afternoon!

Thanks for dropping by to check out my little slice of happy!

Card Recipe:
Stamps: Mark's Finest Papers: A Walk in the Woods & Stinky Situation
Paper: SU basic black, SU so saffron, The Paper Company grey, Canson watercolor paper
Ink: Versamark, SU so saffron, Marvy LePlume II black marker (sentiment), Rubber Stampede black (for watercoloring)
Accessories: black embossing powder, heat tool, watercolor brush, dimensionals
Techniques: watercolor painting

15 comments:

Ashley Cannon Newell said...

Very lovely design. Thanks for taking on an Embellish challenge!

Joanne Travis said...

Love everything about this~ The colors, layout, and of course the stamps you used. Really beautiful, Emily!!!

Emily (stampingout on SCS) said...

WOW! Is this ever gorgeous! LOVE it, Emily! :)

Joanne (jojot) said...

wowza.....so dramatic and so tranquil...perfect for a sympathy

Bonnie said...

I really love this color combination! Love the birches too!

Marisa said...

What lovely birch trees and use of the sketch. Great use of the embellish challenge too :)

Mary Marsh said...

this is a great sympathy card emily-it has a soothing look to it-nice work on all the challenges you hit as well-

Danielle Champagne said...

Hi! Emily, this is a very nice sympathy card. Love the image and the colors. your layering is fabulous. Thank's for playing along with us this week in our Stamptacular Layer-it-on challenge. Hope to see you again soon.
Hugs,
Danielle

Mona Pendleton said...

Very pretty card Emily! Great way to combine challenges-love your take on both!

Anita said...

Wow, what a gorgeous card. I find it so hard to make sympathy cards but you've done a wonderful job.

Benzi said...

This is just a wonderful sympathy card...so peaceful. Love it!!

jimlynn said...

What a beautiful card! Love those trees.
Lynn

Colleen Dietrich said...

How perfect to tell your geocaching nature story on a post that's all about nature. The SC300 looks great decked out in trees! Love the subtle tone-on-tone you created on the Saffron layers.

Karita said...

Absolutely wonderful sympathy card! So peaceful :) Colours are perfect and layers looks great.

Thank you for joining at SSC and hope to see you again :)

Hugs,
Karita

Marilyn said...

Gorgeous card! Thanks for playing along with Stamps R Us.