Hello

I don't normally know what to do with large stamps like this one from Hero Arts, especially since I usually make cards for Operation Write Home, which need to measure 4.25x5.5". But I decided to give it a go.

I began by stamping the image onto a piece of watercolor paper with Versamark ink, then heat embossed it with Recollections "Snow" embossing powder. I painted inside each of the sections of the image with watercolors. I first wet the section with clean water, then dropped in the color. The color ended up staining some of the embossing, but I was able to clean most of it off with an eraser.

After I finished painting, I trimmed the paper down to leave an 1/8" border all around the image, then matted it with a piece of lavender cardstock. For the background, I punched around the edge of a piece of light teal cardstock with an EK Success border punch (I don't know the name of it). I felt the focal panel needed grounding, so I cut a strip of the same dark teal cardstock I used for the back-most layer, and adhered it across the middle of the light teal layer. I punched the ends of the strip to match up with the pattern on the panel, and then adhered the watercolor paper on top. Finally I adhered everything to an A2 card base.

I'm entering this in Simon Says Stamp's Monday "Paint" challenge.