Sympathy Card

I had occasion to need a sympathy card recently.  Always tough to create and usually at the last minute.  This card is a simple one layer card, but I hope the care and love spent creating it communicated a message of care and love to the recipient.  I stamped using the branch from my Birds and Blooms stamp using brown Archival ink.  I colored the branches, leaves and flowers using a watercolor brush, water and my Prima Oil Pastels.  I scribbled the color onto a piece of palette paper and lifted it using water and the brush to apply to the stamped image.  When everything was dry (I only used a small amount of water to prevent warping), I dabbed glue onto the flowers and sprinkled some Flower Soft onto them to create a little definition to the petals.  It sorta looked like tears for some reason to me and I thought it fitting.  The sentiment, also stamped in brown Archival Ink, was from my Handwritten Borders set from SSS.  Never any fun, but hopefully a ray of encouragement during a tough time of grief.

I'm going to enter this card into Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday Challenge: Simon Says Anything Goes,  Word Art Wednesday's Challenge #211 Anything Goes and Simon Says Stamp's Work it Wednesday challenge.

A Happy Birthday Card

Today I'm sharing the birthday card I made for my mom.  Her favorite color is blue and one of her favorite patterns is plaid.  I turned to my 6 x 6 paper pad of Simple Stories Summer Fresh patterned paper.  Since my Online Card Class, Pattern Play I've really tried to play with patterned paper more. 

I used my Cricut to cut that medallion out.  I didn't write down what I used and so I've utterly lost sight of which cart the cut came from.

The flowers were cut using my Heartfelt Creations Posy dies.  Ultimately, I decided to use a few light blue posies I'd stamped with some Faded Jeans Distress Ink.  That's a bit of green FlowerSoft in the center of those tiny posies.  The sentiment comes from my Tilted Banners stamps and dies set. 

When I'd put together all my patterned elements, I realized that the medallion needed an anchor so I cut a strip of burgundy patterned paper from a scrap and placed it right down the middle of the card.  It really helped and so I ended up with a card that I liked. 

On the inside, I wanted something a little decorative.  I settled on this piece of patterned paper.  The sentiment stamped in Faded Jeans Distress Ink comes from my Stampin' Up Apothecary Art stamp set.  A tiny swirl from one of my sets and a little posy and I think the inside is finished in a lovely manner.  She enjoyed her birthday card and the gift (it was tea- she drinks lots of hot tea even in our 120 degree summers!).

Happy Birthday, Mom!

I've linked this up over at Word Art Wednesday: Challenge #105- Anything Goes .  Come join the fun.

A Huge Flower Soft Thank You

On a recent night of bff fun, Brandy brought a bunch of her Flower Soft products.  Quite some time ago, she had become enamored with their products and purchased a wide variety of kits and supplies.  Oooooh the fun to be had.

One of the supplies they offer is their pre-printed card toppers.  This beautiful lantern is just one such product.  The kit comes with several of the same card topper, so Brandy generously offered me a couple to play with.  She also had some duplicate containers of Flower Soft, so I received some Flower Soft to play with.  You've seen some of that product on cards recently posted.  I didn't get around to doing anything with the card toppers until recently.

I randomly applied the Flower Soft to the card topper and rubbed a little Scattered Straw Distress Ink into the flame.  Completing the topper took very little time, but resulted in a sophisticated result.  The patterned paper is from Carta Bella's Traditions collection. I fussy cut the scallops from a piece of the paper and coordinated with a red/orange cardstock.  The sentiment stamp was done with my CTMH Cranberry ink and cut using my ancient CM oval cutters which are like a decade old.






White ribbon was inked using Scattered Straw Distress Ink to create the bow.  I simply pressed the ribbon directly onto the ink pad using a scrap of paper.  It took a couple of passes to get this rich color but it works well with the color scheme.






The inside was decorated with patterned paper and a border stamp with some Scattered Straw Distress Ink.

This card made it into the stash.  I don't often use this size card, as it intimidates me.  However, I sure am pleased with how well it turned out.









The second (and sadly, last) topper I received as a gift is this lovely birdhouse.  To highlight the amazing versatility of Flower Soft's product, the same Flower Soft Spring mixed color was used on this card.  At first glance, this mix looks heavily yellow and leans towards the warm colors (thus the color scheme chosen for the card above).  However, this topper leaned heavily toward a soft pink rose theme.  I simply used a bit less flower soft, randomly dotting the pre-printed vine that winds itself up the post. 







If you look at this close up, you can see the yellow/warm color influence.  However, it really works in the final product.

The sentiment was created using my Tilted Banners die and stamps.  I simply trimmed the white banner to match and fit on the die cut pink banner.  The ink used was a small Brilliance Ink. 




The inside was dressed with a small Vintage Floret stamped flower and a piece of the white ribbon.  Another card for the stash.  Yeah me, I'm really feeling the using up the stash these days...  Thank you, Brandy.  Your generosity was put to good use.

Some More Flower Soft Fun

I'd mentioned that Brandy shuffled some duplicate containers of Flower Soft product my way.  One of them was a container of Flower Soft- Spring.  This mixed color Flower Soft is versatile.  I knew just the supplies I wanted to combine to create a card set.

I started these cards with a set of 10 Hallmark gift cards that I'd picked up at a clearance sale.  The entire box cost something like $1.25.  They came with embossed envelopes and were an off-white color.  Next I sought out a La Blanche stamp I'd picked up for a smokin' deal a couple years back.  I've tried to use this stamp a couple times, but my combinations just didn't work and I ended up abandoning the work I began.



These cards started with the framed flowers being stamped with brown Archival ink onto some white cardstock.  Because I was shooting for the antique look, I used my Ink Blending Tool to apply some Scattered Straw Distress ink to the interior of the frame and some Vintage Photo Distress ink to the edges of the frame.  After applying the ink with the blending tool, I fussy cut the frame and colored the flower with either Worn Lipstick or Scattered Straw Distress ink.  I wanted a soft water color ink so I actually smeared the ink pad onto my craft sheet and applied the color with a water pen.





After the images were colored, I used some Glossy Accents to dot thin lines and splotches of glue on the stem and leaves portions of the image and quickly applied some pre-fluffed Flower Soft.  I pre-fluffed the Flower Soft into a kitchen bowl being sure to loosen any clumps that may have existed from the storage container.  After applying the glue, I simply sprinkled the Flower Soft over the bowl and let the extra drop into the bowl.










The sentiments were first die cut using my Tilted Banners Die and then stamped using the Titled Banners Sayings stamps.  They were also colored using Scattered Straw and Vintage Photo Distress inks applied with the Ink Blending Tool.  The sentiments were stamped with brown Archival ink. 

Some green patterned paper was located in the stash and used as a background for the frames, all edged in Vintage Photo Distress Ink.

I ended up sending a set of 5 of these cards to my Grandma who still does a fair bit of correspondence via the mail.  I thought she might be able to put them to good use.  I kept a set for myself and intend to use them to great effect in my own card sending.

I've linked one of these cards up over at Make It Monday: #154 and Word Art Wednesday's: Challenge #94.  Come join the fun!