Peace Within Makes Beauty Without

It's a beautiful truth isn't it?  Peace within your soul and spirit brings beauty to your whole person, inside and out. 

My daughter and I both fell in love with this pretty stamp in the new catalogue.  It's rare for her to say, "Mom you need to get this one", but she did, and I did!  We have Adirondack chairs like this and they are great to cozy up in and read a book, or nap like this cat is doing.

I colored the scene with my Stampin' Write Markers.  I did this rather than reinkers because of the fine lines and details in this stamp.  Why? I find I get better precision on details with multiple colors when I used markers. 

After it was cut out with the Labels Two Nestie it was just a hair too big, so I trimmed it down to the embossing lines on the cut shape, then sponged it with Soft Suede to give it a better feeling of depth without the layers. 

Tip:  Notice all the horizontal and vertical lines in the stamped image?  You've got the vertical lines of the chair and the orchid plant mixed with the horizontal of the cat, pillow and chair seat...  Well, it's perfect to play that up with the vertical and horizontal lines of the sketch and the patterns of the paper.  Plus the woodgrain on the paper matches the chair.  I accentuated it more with the horizontal ribbon, sentiment and brads. 

Here's a closer pic of the watercoloring: 

I love the earthy look of the pot :) It was fun to color!  Oh, I also overstamped the orchids on the sentiment too to tie it in. 

Recipe:  Stamps:  Peace Within;  Ink:  Black Stazon, Soft Suede, Bermuda Bay;  Paper:  Bermuda Bay, Soft Suede, Watercolor Paper, Autumn Meadows DSP;  Accessories:  Big Shot, Labels 3 Nesties, SW Markers, Aquq Painter, Bermuda Bay Ribbon, Piercer, Dimensionals, Vintage Brads. Sponge.