English Cottage Blessing

My mother-in-law, Joanne, recently went on a choir mission trip to England. Their choir spent a week, traveling to several towns outside of London and encouraging others through music. This was not Joanne's first trip to England, in fact my husband's family lived in England for several years while he was a young boy. My husband and I visited England on our 5th wedding anniversary and we were able to visit family friends that he grew up with. I also have family members that live in England. England is such a beautiful, beautiful, country....I especially love to meander through the English countryside and view all the gardens and thatch roof houses. So when my mother-in-law asked me to make a special thank you Card to send to one of their friends in England, I knew exactly which stamp set to use....."Woodland Cottage" by SU. It is now a retired set, but I knew that my friend Lorraine had it in her collection and she graciously allowed me to use it. Thanks Lorraine!

For my English cottage I used my Wonderful Watercolor crayons and mona lisa blending oil to watercolor the cottage. Mona Lisa oil is just a brand name for Gamsol. Gamsol is an oderless mineral spirit that helps you to spread the color. It's normally used with watercolor pencils...but I have found it works with the crayons as well. Of course if you do not have Gamsol, you can use water!! I tried really hard to find an embellishment for this card....but nothing was to my liking. So instead I added a light dusting of dazzling diamond glitter to the windows. To give it a "Thomas Kinkaid" look. It's hard to see the glitter in the picture....but it is quite Fantastic!

Why recreate a tutorial when you can learn how to watercolor here:

Sassy and Sweet Blog

I am excited to know that this card will go all the way to England to encourage and thank a friend that hosted my mother-in-laws church choir on mission.