Congratulations Heidi!

Recently, our niece, Heidi, graduated from Quinsigamond Community College and this fall she'll be continuing her studies at Keuka College in upstate New York.

Heidi has been majoring in ASL, with the ultimate goal of becoming a sign language teacher and interpreter.

What is amazing about this is that there is no one in our family who is hearing impaired! After becoming introduced to ASL in school, she found that she loved it so much, she decided to make it her life's work. Heidi, we're all so proud of you, and delighted for you that you have found something you truly love to do!

I made this card for Heidi in honor of her accomplishments. The idea for this card began with a stamp, Confident Grad" by Stampendous and a lovely scrap of Washi paper by Hanko.

The paper is beautiful, with brilliant colors and gilding. Settling on card stock to enhance the Hanko paper was the hardest part of the design, but Core'Dinations had several that keyed on the colors in the paper in their Nostalgia collection (one of my favorites).

I used Serendipity's large dogwood stamp to create a floral background on the card stock and on a panel to enhance the front of the card. I stamped and embossed in gold and painted the blossoms with watercolors. To get a gentle shimmer (not really visible in the photographs), I glazed the watercolored blooms with Winsor and Newton's Iridescent Waterolour Medium (available at Michael's and most artist supply stores).

I stamped half of the verse on each of two card stock blocks to create a message for both the front and the inside of the card. Using a small scrap of the Washi paper and some coordinating card stock, I created an inside panel embellished with a sprig of the dogwood stamped "over the edge", leaving plenty of room to add my own personal note of congratulations.

Offray's 1.5 inch wide ivory Arabesque wired ribbon made a wonderful bow to finish the card off.

Go confidently, Heidi, as you undertake your next big adventure at Keuka this fall!