Sketch Challenges 222 & 223

There is something about this card that I really love. I think it's the way the watercolored tree came out. I first stamped it in black on a scrap piece of paper so I could see the detail and then colored the rubber with my watercolor crayons. This allowed me to see where I needed to add brown for the trunk and branches. The stamp is from SU's Lovely as a Tree. The paper is from My Mind's Eye, dark green cardstock from Bazzill and Close to Cocoa from SU. The plain and scalloped rectangles are from Spellbinders and the ribbon was a piece of satin left over from the Baby Layette I crocheted.

For April's Card Club Swap we had to do a Sympathy Card. They are always the hardest to do so I was surprised to discover how much I enjoyed making this card. I guess the trick is to make several of them on a bright cheerful day and just put them aside until needed so there isn't a lot of sad emotion tied to it.
I started by embossing the Mellow Moss base with one of SU's Texture Plates. I stamped the Very Vanilla panel with a leaf background stamp from All Night Media in Memories Soft Wheat ink then punched the long sides with one of the new EK Success border punches. The sentiment was from the Sentiments II set from Impression Obsession and stamped in Elegant Eggplant. The rose from SU's Dear Friend was stamped in Archival Black, colored with SU markers then cut and embossed with Spellbinder's Labels 1. The edge was inked with Always Artichoke using my nifty new ink applicator from Ranger. The Pale Plum mat was cut and embossed with Labels 1, stamped with French Script and the edges inked with Pale Plum ink. It was then mounted on a square of Perfect Plum.