Good morning!  Before I head out to Utica Days and the car show, I want to take a moment and thank all of you who left comments and/or emailed yesterday!  You can’t even begin to know how much all of your well wishes and encouragement has meant to me.  I feel so blessed!! 

I won’t let this get me down, as I have many more things I want to create and ideas to put to paper.  As some of you have said, “when one door closes, another opens.”  I have told myself that all week and realize that sometimes one has to take risks to see the greater rewards.  I’ve never been one to take the path well trod . . . I like to veer off and have as many adventures as possible.  I know there’s one hell of an adventure in my future!

Last night was the first time all week that I have felt the least bit creative, so I headed down to the studio.  The first thing I needed to do was clean up after myself from stamp club and put things away that had accumulated around.  I felt good then and decided to do some water coloring.  This is one of those cards that I became totally immersed and lost all track of time . . . but by golly, I really like it!

The flowers and leaves from Papertrey’s In Bloom were stamped individually, embossed with gold EP, and then water colored with Tombow Markers.  I patiently cut them all out and arranged them around a panel made from Spellbinders Labels 7.  The sentiment is from the Papertrey set Floral Fusion (the Limited Edition from Summer CHA 2009).  Yes, I spent enough money to get that set . . . not surprised are you?  Oh one more thing, the sentiment panel and the one it’s mounted on was made with the Wrinkle Free Distress technique on watercolor paper  . . . absolutely LOVE the look of this technique with watercolor paper.  If you haven’t tried it, you need to!  Can you tell from the photo that each flower was raised above the other with mounting tape?  It truly does add to the dimension of the card.

• Stamps:  In Bloom and Floral Fusion from Papertrey
• Paper:  Papertrey Craft; Prism Majestic Purple Light; Vanilla; BasicGrey Wisteria; Arches Watercolor
• Ink:  Ranger Distress Embossing, Old Paper and Dusty Concord
• Accessories:  Spellbinders S4-231 Labels 7, S4-138 Petite Oval Nestabilities Large, and S4-139 Petite Scalloped Oval Nestabilities Large; Ranger Queen’s Gold Embossing Powder, Mini Mister, Gold Perfect Pearls, Non-Stick Craft Sheet; Papertrey Vintage Cream Satin Ribbon; Tombow Markers; Venture Foam Tape; Tsukineko Sponge Dauber; Sewing Machine

I suppose that’s all I have for the time being, except to tell you all that I’m so thankful for you!!  Have a great weekend and thanks for stopping by!  I’m off to yard sale and hopefully find some great bargains.