Papertrey Ink December Blog Hop Challenge

It's hop time again!  I was excited to hear the hop was moved to the 26th as the kids were heading back to South Carolina late Christmas night and I would not have to take any time away from grandbaby time to do a little crafting.

I mean seriously?  Is he not the cutest thing?!?!?

(I may be biased, but it's my blog.)

This is what happens when Mom & Dad take a nap and Jacen is left alone with Grandma, a Christmas tree and a camera.

It may be Winter and only 23 degrees outside here in Pennsylvania, but PTI has us thinking spring.

The inspiration given to us this month was this photo "just right to celebrate love":

I had envisioned something a little different earlier in the week using the Garden Gild set.  Today, however my heart is a little heavier at the sudden passing of a family friend.  It may have been the tears, but I was drawn to use watercolor paper and vellum.

I love the softness and subtlety of the finished card.  

This was very organic going together.  The cardstock is PTI Soft Stone, with the sentiment from With Sympathy inked up in Royal Velvet.   The stamped background is an assortment of itty bitty stamps and soft PTI Inks from my Papertrey stash--I used Grand Finale and Graceful Greetings.  I covered the stamping with some brushed vellum I had left over.  

The leafy accents are from PTI Embellished Elegance.  I chose to use a length of Royal Velvet twill tape to pull it together and finish the look.  The split stitched cover plate is from Die-Namics.

I stamped on watercolor cardstock, wet it thoroughly, dried and then stamped some more.  I picked that up on my last trip to Pittsburgh at a small shop called Stamp Fanci.  I love being able to see the products in front of me, it takes me to a happy place where I started out stamping.   I think this is why I really enjoy the facebook LIVE release events with the PTI team.  I may not be there, but the atmosphere makes me feel as if I am!

Thank you for taking a moment to stop by and check out my card.