Special Place...

 

As many who know me, they are aware of the pet sympathy cards I make. I donate hundreds of cards every year to pet organizations. This sentiment SPECIAL PLACE IN MY HEART GREETING - 307E is perfect for a very quick pet sympathy card.

• I used a stencil to create a rainbow background and then I stamped the sentiment over the rainbow.
• I then finished the card with a few scattered hearts.

Thank you for stopping my to check out my card this week.

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Deep Sympathy

Hi Everyone,

Making a sympathy card when you need one most, is always difficult for me.  Lucky for me, I have this Calla Lily Sympathy Frame stamp from DRS Designs that does all the heavy lifting.

I stamped, colored and die cut it out, adding some sponging to the edges.  I attached it to an embossed background and added some flowers that were fussy cut from the Dogwood Branch.

After attaching everything with dimensional tape, I added a bit of glitter glue to the flower centers and called it done.

This stamp and many more sympathy stamps can be found right here!

Have a great week!
Karin

 

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Army Proud

Hi Everyone, 

I was in need of a couple of cards and had little time to make them, so I went with my favorite Dogwood Branch stamp that would work for both, and a couple of sentiments.  

I simply stamped the With Sympathy Greeting and the flowers multiple times, adding color by stamping using a small square ink pad.

I did the same here, but added a die cut Brush Thank You.  Some glitter glue was added for some flair.

Finally, I made another star filled card to honor our military, using the following stamps:

Army Proud

Interlocking Star Background

Thanks for stopping by!
Karin

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Deepest Sympathy In Colors

Hello Crafty Friends!

Today I am sharing a Sympathy card made with the fabulous Brush In Deepest Sympathy and the Brush Pussy Willows images. 

First, I stamped the images and then sponged on the 4 colors on the two panels.  The green on the bottom is from SU! but my sponge had on some Tim Holtz Ground Expresso Distress Ink so it came out a bit brown.  The two middle colors are Peach and Paprika from Close to My Heart, and the top is Broken China Distress Oxide (TH). 

After the sponging, I colored in the white fluffs with white gel pen and added Stickles to the base of each one.  I had a little ink spot after stamping the Brush Pussy Willows so I added lots of white and black dots to blend it all in.  It is like there is a spirit arising or the fluffs are crying - seems to work with the theme. 

Hope you are having a fabulous week.  

Hugz,

Nancy

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With Sympathy

Hi Everyone,

Sadly, I was in need of a sympathy card and didn't have one on hand.  I have a simple, go to card design, but I've used it so many times, that I have no idea who I've sent it to in the past.  I chose another easy to replicate design in a neutral color, but I feel like the browns may have been a bit drab. More depressing, than soothing.  I'll choose a soft green or blue next time for my monochromatic sympathy card. 

The background was stamped using the Silhouette Branch and the sentiment is With Sympathy

  I mounted the greeting on some black cardstock and used a border punch and a row of gems to add some interest.  I also added some matching twine before I attached the greeting to the card. 

Not wanting to be stuck without a sympathy card for next time, I took inspiration from Lisa's beautiful card here, and made one for my stash. It's not as pretty as hers, but the recipient won't know that! 

Here are the stamps I used for this:

With Sympathy

Dandelion Puff

Spatter Background

And inside:

His Blessings Faith Greeting

Thanks for stopping by the blog today!
Karin

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Deepest Sympathy

 

Sadly, we all need sympathy cards from time to time and I thought it was time for me to make a few more for my stash. I like to keep them very simple and easy to use for anyone.

This BRUSH IN DEEPEST SYMPATHY - 588G font works great for a very simple sympathy card.

• I stamped the BRUSH IN DEEPEST SYMPATHY - 588G in black on white cardstock.
• Next, I stamped the DANDELION PUFF - 380G in green right over the sentiment.
• The DANDELION PUFF - 380G was colored with green copics.
• I then die cut the panel and then used a reverse mask rectangle to sponge some blue distress oxide ink over just the left side of the panel.
• The panel was popped up on dimensionals and finished with a few scattered sequins.

Thank you for stopping by to check out my card this week.

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Comfort, Time, and Memories

Hello crafty friends!

I love when I figure something new out, don't you?  This past weekend, I figured out that the Large Stained Glass (1133P) image can be bent a bit and used to give your background a crackle look (I kind of folded it like a taco).  I used it on several of my art journal pages this weekend and also on this Sympathy card. 

I started my panels using the Ink/Spray/Smash technique (swipe ink on acetate, mist with water, then smash it on your paper).  I used green and brown on the bottom base panel and just green on the top panel.  After the ink dried, I stamped the Script Font Background  (098P - my favorite stamp ever) in Pretty Peacock ink. I sprinkled it with water because I was going for that wet with tears kind of feeling.  After that dried, I inked up only the middle of the Large Stained Glass image and stamped it all over the two panels.  

I wanted the top panel to have a different look so I also inked up the trees in the Mountain and Treeline 2-in-1 Scene (045P) and stamped the bottom section.   I finished it off with the Condolences (109K) stamp and a bit of Vintage Photo distressing around all the edges.  

I love how this came out - hope you can try something like it soon.  

Hugz,

Nancy

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Best Fishes

Hi Everyone,

Boy this looks like a rainy week for me, which isn't bad news, because that just means more stamping time for me!  

Masculine cards are always a challenge for me.  I usually go for neural colors or a pairing of orange and blue, like I did below.  I sponged a sky and also sponged the water, using some sticky notes, a scallop punch to aid me along. The photo makes the water look more splotchy than it does in real life, and I'm not sure if the gel pen waves show up to well either.  You'll just have to trust me on that. 

I stamped and embossed the Silhouette Fishermen and also stamped the Best Fishes Hook, coloring in the hook with a sliver pen, to give it a look of metal.  I then paper pieced the actual phrase on top. The two fish were stamped a colored using Copics and a bit of that white pen again. 

The fish came from these 2 stamps:

3 in 1 Ocean Floor Designs

4 in 1 Ocean Designs

Here's a card from the previous release that I forgot to share here on the blog.  This one is the opposite of masculine, but it's pretty simple in it's design as well.

I stamped the birds multiple times, and wrapped the panel with the ribbon, before attaching the sentiment, which was die cut.

 The stamps I used are:
Flowering Bird Branch  
His  Blessings Faith Greeting

 I then added a big gem embellishment to finish it off.

Thanks for visiting today!
Karin

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2 Cards

Hi Everyone,

It's a gloomy weather week here in north east Ohio, so I needed to spur on some spring though my stamping.  

This lovely greeting is suitable for Easter, or even a sympathy card.  It's always nice to have those in one's stash, for unexpected moments.  I dry embossed one half with flowers and stamped and colored the other side to match.  After attaching the die cut greeting, I added a few square gems to balance out the design. 

Here are the stamps I used:
Dogwood Branch
His Blessings Faith Greeting

 

Did you know that DRS Designs has a birthday stamp for every month of the year?  They do, and it's such a fun way to personalize someone's card!

Here I used the month of April and designed it using extras and leftovers on my craft table.  The chick was a spare from my place cards, the die cut grass was also an unused extra, the background stamp is always on my table, and the flower is one I didn't use on this card.  The moral of the story is, don't throw anything out!

Here are the links to these stamps:

Chick in Nest

Splatter Background

Easy Grass Background

April Birthday Greeting

Cheers to sunny days ahead...  

 Thanks for visiting!

Karin

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Chickadee Sympathy

by Julie Warner - The Write Stuff

Happy Friday!

I hope your week has gone well! Wow did we ever have some crazy weather the last couple of days! And I think it was much worse south & west of us. Buckets of heavy rain, lots of high winds. March may have come in like a lamb, but mid March is roaring like a lion. 

For my sympathy card, I die cut a piece of light blue then stamped the brick wall onto it w/ blue ink & colored it w/ Copics. The lightest area in the centers of the bricks is the actual color of the paper. I die cut the green piece the same size then used a deckle edge tearing ruler to give it the torn edge. I've had that ruler for ages & keep forgetting to use it. It's great to get that controlled tear, so the edge follows a mostly straight line.

The chickadee was lightly colored & fussy cut. I extended the branch a bit & added some die cut leaves then stamped the greeting on the lower right.

Here's the inside & below it are the Copics I used.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a great weekend!

Supplies:

stamps: DRS Designs -Bird on Branch, Our Thoughts, Brick Wall  (inside: Extending Sympathy)

paper:  Staples 110# white, green, lt blue

ink:  Memento tuxedo black, Adirondack stonewashed

accessories: Rubbernecker Rectangle Stitch die, Copic Markers, Misti, tearing ruler

Bird on Branch 328K	Our Thoughts 121D	Brick Wall 260P	Extending Sympathy 1090G
Copic Sketch Markers	Memento Inks	RN Rectangle Stitch dies 5007D	RN Sm Leaf Group die 5110D
Staples 110# White Card Stock	MISTI	AC color card stock	Adirondack dye inks
Deckle Edge Tearing Ruler

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Water Inspiration

Hope your week is going well!  I am still having fun with the new images that will be hitting the store soon.  For this CAS card, I used the 3 in 1 Ocean Floor image (1040H), the new Go with the Flow Greeting (1049E) and the new porthole (1039L).  I water-colored the images and touched them a bit with Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Vintage Photo.  

I also have a BAJ/Card combo to share using the Art Deco Sympathy greeting mixed with the Long Tall Cattails and the Sea Grass.  The BAJ page is a tribute to my Mother I did a for a challenge on Splitcoaststampers.com on May 4 (I wrote in the wrong date and need to fix it).  She passed a few years ago and I always miss her a bit more around Mothers Day.  This was all inspired by a picture of some business cards on Pinterest.  I love how the embossing looks.

I inked up a raindrop stencil and spritzed with water to make the bg on the BAJ page.  Once it was on the page, I sprinkled on a bit of water to take off some of the ink a bit as well.  I am still journaling Psalms - about 80% done now.  I am sure enjoying it. 

Here is a picture of the cattails card by itself. 

Hope you are having a wonderful week.

Hugz,

Nancy

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Sending thanks and hugs

Happy Monday Everyone. Trust you had a good weekend and found some time to get creative. We had our warmest days yet here in NW Ohio this past weekend and I found myself outdoors as much as possible. I even took a nap on the deck swing Saturday afternoon. Of course it's cooling back down, but it was nice while it lasted. :-)

I've been working on some sending you hugs cards for my husband to send to folks from church who are in nursing homes. He usually visits them in person, but with the pandemic that is not possible. I went with a simple design since I needed to make 20+ cards for him.  I die cut the word hugs from some inked up glossy paper I made ages ago. I'm not even sure I remember how I did it, but I'm pretty sure I followed directions from a Jennifer McGuire blog entry. I know it's alcohol inks on glossy paper. Once the word hugs was glued onto the white die cut panel, I stamped the Sending you part of the Sending you happy thoughts greeting onto blue CS, die cut and added to the white panel as well, then attached the white panel to a matching blue card base. I added some clear gems as well.

This next card I created for our vet. A week or two into the pandemic our poor dog, Sahm tore her ACL on her back right leg and wasn't able to put any weight on it. I wasn't even sure if the vet was open, but fortunately they were. She ended up having surgery and is now starting to walk on that back leg again. Our vet lives in our neighborhood and if we happen to be walking by his house when he's outside he always stops us and checks on Sahm. So I wanted to send a thank you from Sahm to him.

The dog paw background image, Thank you greeting, dog bone image and small paw print image were all  stamped onto white CS with Distress Oxide Vintage Photo ink. Everything was layered onto some kraft CS. I added some Nuvo Aqua Shimmer to the dog bone and paw print. It shows up nicely in real life. Inside I stamped the paw image for Sahm's signature. I didn't get a picture of that and the card is in the mail already.

Thank you for stopping by today. I do hope you are staying safe and healthy.

blessings,
shelia

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Stained Glass Lily

Happy Friday!

I hope your week has gone well! I also hope you're staying healthy! For the first day of May, it's kinda chilly here. Lows in the low 40's & yesterday, we only got up to the low 50's for a high temp. Feels more like the beginning of April than May. 

My card today is a sympathy card using these lovely calla lilies & a stained glass oval on top. You'll see that the lily & frame are all one image, but I didn't want the stained glass on top of the word frame, so I did them separately. I could have just left off the word framing, but I like how the big sympathy greeting echos the word frame. I die cut the white frame & inside rectangle first, then stamped the 2 parts of the lily & added a green frame. After coloring the lily, I stamped the stained glass on top w/ the gray ink & added just a hint of color here & there. I also added just a bit of color to the large greeting.

Here's the inside & below it are the Copics I used. 

Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a great weekend & stay safe!

Supplies:

stamps: DRS Designs -Calla Lily Sympathy, Deco Deepest Sympathy, Stained Glass Oval (inside: Extending Sympathy, Woven Plaid)

paper:  Staples 110# white, green

ink:  Memento tuxedo black, flannel gray (new sprout used on inside)

accessories: Rubbernecker Rectangle Stitch & Rectangle  dies, Copic Markers, Misti

Calla Lily Sympathy 587L	Deco Deepest Sympathy 973F	Extending Sympathy 1090G	Stained Glass Oval 199P
Woven Plaid 613P	Staples 110# White Card Stock	AC color card stock	RN Rectangle Stitch dies 5007D
RN Rectangle dies 5003D	Copic Sketch Markers	Memento Inks	MISTI

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