Radiant Light in the Great Outdoors - PP356

Hi friends!  This week I am the happy hostess over at The Paper Players with our first Theme Challenge of the (new) month:

The Great Outdoors...my favorite place to be.  Whether at the beach or in the forest, I love being outside.  And when it comes to "outdoor" stamps, I would be hard pressed to find a tree or leaf stamp that I didn't love!  Every time there's a new one from SU, I say "nope, don't need it" and you can image how long that lasts! 

Today's card was inspired by one that I found while roaming around Pinterest.  This stunning card from Susan Goetter took my breath away.  I love pinning cards that inspire me to re-create them with Stampin' Up products.  Unfortunately, I needed two sympathy cards this week and Susan's gorgeous creation had just the right melancholy feeling I thought was appropriate.

The rugged texture of hot press watercolor paper was just right for the watery look I wanted with my colors.  I laid down a base of light colors for the earth and sky first using Soft Sky and Pear Pizzazz.  Once that dried, I added some streaks of Old Olive and [retired] Baja Breeze.  I kept adding more layers of color until I was happy with the look.  Honestly, I really don't know what I'm doing, I just play around with color and water until I like it!  The tree line is from a [retired] set called Happy Scenes and the trees have snow clumps on them.  I didn't want a winter look to the trees so I used my Aqua Painter to blend the ink which covered up the snow clumps and added to the watercolor look of the whole design.

Vellum adds elegance to any project and since the overall design of this card is quiet and simple, a vellum insert adds a little extra special touch.  I replicated the scene from the front on a piece of Very Vanilla cardstock with brush strokes from the Work of Art stamps.  The colors were more vibrant, without watercolor, and the vellum overlay mutes the colors.  This sentiment is from a retired set called Love & Sympathy and has always been a favorite of mine.  It's always so difficult to know what to say in a time like this and the idea of our loved ones watching over us resonates with me and, I hope, brings comfort to my two friends who experienced great loss this week.  

I hope you've enjoyed today's card.  We would love for you to play along with us at The Paper Players.  Be sure to check out all the other inspiration from my teammates and then play along before our challenge ends on Friday, August 11th at Noon (EST).

The Paper Players Design Team 

Claire Broadwater

 Jaydee

Joanne James

Laurie Schmidt

LeAnne Pugliese

Nance Leedy 

Sandy Mathis 

Deanne 

Annie Abrahamson 

Jan Clothier