Sympathy Card- The toughest of all

Sympathy cards are difficult for me.  I think this is partly because they usually come suddenly and need to be completed quickly.  I think another part of the difficulty is from the fact that I genuinely desire to express emotion with these cards.  Usually, I think I am targeting more the evoking of emotion- the pleasure of the receiver at being remembered, thought of, and/or generally celebrated.  However, with sympathy cards I am usually trying to tell the receiver something- comfort, reassurance, encouragement, love.  I am seeking to express something from me to give to another who is suffering loss.  I think this might be because I have experienced so little loss in my life (my maternal grandparents are still with us to my great joy!).  I wouldn't begin to suggest I would have a clue as to what emotion I might want to evoke out of my receiving friend.  A co-worker recently lost a good friend.  We had all met and known Laura and all I could think of was to make something for my co-worker to hold.  I wanted my co-worker to know that my thoughts and prayers were with her.  I think this simple design, scraplifted from a post I found using Google, hit the sentiment just right. 

You might remember my recent post where I made grunge paper calla lilies with instructions from the blog Ink Stains. This flower is simple to make and quickly came together to become the center point of this card.  The cream vintage seam binding crinkled using water and my hands softened the hard corners and monochromatic theme.  The patterned paper comes from the stash and is likely many years old.  I just love using up the paper in my stash, especially when the result is just what I was after.  My hope is this card would be a tangible reminder to my co-worker.  We are not alone, no matter how it feels or how superficial our relationships.  I continue to pray that God would comfort and send peace to my co-worker and her good friend's family.  Loss is truly very hard and when teen children are left behind, it seems somewhat cruel.  Yet, we must remember that we are children of a Living God and allow our losses here on Earth to point us to the One who saved us from death's grip.

Andie

3-D Cards Using Heartfelt Creations and Copic Markers

Brandy made these lovely cards using her Heartfelt Creations products, Copic Markers, and Distress Inks. Since I can't seem to carve out time for her to post (if I get scrappin' time with her, I'm happy!), I thought I would share her product with you.

These beautiful cards were made using the Heartfelt Creations stamps that coordinate with the Spellbinders (and other Heartfelt Creations) flower dies.  The flowers were stamped and die cut, then colored using Copic Markers and the blending solution.  The card background was stamped using the cluster stamps from Heartfelt Creations and then colored with the Copic Markers as well.  You can see corner punches were used to create decorative corners.  These card bases were then enhanced with Distress Inks using the Blending Tool.  The flowers were shaped and strategically adhered to the card bases.  The effect was very beautiful and certainly worth the time and effort spent creating these lovely works of art!  I believe Brandy used these cards for Mother's Day cards and still has a couple left over for some future purposes.  What a wonderful result!

Brandy (through Andie)

Mini-Baking Cup Flowers

This project is old.  I mean like a few months old.  That speaks to how very precious is time for crafting.  Working full time and trying to keep a house and two kids on the go wears a girl down.  There's nothing like a good craft project to infuse a sense of peace and accomplishment.  When Brandy shared a new crafting technique on the Internet using mini-baking cups, I thought it might be worth a try.  So, here's the technique.

Start with a plain min-baking cup.  Don't worry about deformities as the process with eliminate any blemishes.  I used my hand to flatten the cup and sprayed each cup with Glimmer Mist.  After the paper had dried, folded the circle in half and then in half again and ultimately trimmed the edges making a  three circles of concentric size. 






Then I simply layered the circles one on top of the other and pinched the very center of the layered pieces, twisting around to create my flower center.  The picture to the right shows two completed flowers and the pieces to make a third. 





I chose to use these first rounds of flowers to make a card.  They work very well as you can easily flatten then and it actually enhances the look.  I also chose to use very little adornments for these cards and let the beautiful Glimmer Mist colors make the statement.

 The card is made from cream cardstock and the paper is from the Stash, so old I've no idea where it came from.  The brown ribbon is a reuse piece from a lovely box of chocolates that I paired here with a piece fo cream organza ribbon.  I've used this card base to make a birthday card- stamping Happy Birthday to a cream colored die cut mini-tag and inking the edges- and a thank you card.  The sentiment tage inserts nicely below the green flower and looks as though it was made for this purpose.



I does seem like you never use exactly all of the baking cups when you buy them.  What a great way to put those few left overs to use without increasing my waistline.  I've added glitter to the edges of some of the flowers and inked the finished product to create different looks to my flowers.  This is a fun technique that adds cute charm and appeal without much effort.


Andie