peace and joy (Christmas series tutorial)

Here's a card for you to create that is simple and elegant. Here's how to do it.

Cut and fold 10 card bases, 5 1/2" by 8 1/2". Also you will need 10 pieces of watercolor paper, 3" by 3". I forgot to cut the mat pieces for this so we'll just do that later.

Using the evergreen image from Lovely as a Tree and black Stazon ink, stamp the watercolor paper in random places similar to what I did on these. I did have to turn some over and use the back since the first one didn't work out! There were two I had to take new paper for, but in the end I was happy with my trees!

Now comes the fun part! Using your aqua painters and stampin' misters thingies, play around with watercoloring and misting different colors onto your tree image papers. I put one drop Tempting Turquoise into the water in one mister and Cherry Cobbler into the other. Some places I swirled and dabbed my aqua painter dipped into various blues. Kept it subtle though. Like a winter morning sky. If the papers curl, don't worry as you can use your heat tool to dry the water and it helps uncurl them. Also I've had really good luck just gently bending them back to shape when they're dry.

Okay, I said earlier I'd forgotten to get you to cut those blue mat pieces. I used several different shades in cooler tones, but I'm sure you could use a pink if you wanted to warm things up a bit. Those pieces should be 3 1/2" by 3 1/2". I used core'dinations paper (retired) and distressed the edges. 

Next you assemble the card using pop dots. Stamp on your sentiment and you're done! I used the Alphabet Rotary Stamp and wrote "PEACE AND JOY" which may seem trite and boring until you really think how absolutely wonderful it is to be at peace and to have a heart full of joy! Not boring at all!