Stampin' Up Thoughts and Prayers Sympathy card

Hi blogging friends

The summer school holidays are now over and my DD went back to school today (*sniff*) so the house seems very empty without her.  I thought school started yesterday as my Diary and Calendar both said that Term 1 started then - so we turned up to find that only the staff were there and it was a Curriculum Day.  OOPS!!!   But I didn't feel so bad as on the way back to the car, we passed another family on their way in - and apparently, the office had a steady stream of people arriving thinking that it was a school day too.  My DD was understandably a little dark on me having got up early for nothing but it was nice to have an "extra" day together :-)  I guess it was better than turning up a day late; nevertheless, I do feel a little dumb.....LOL!

Today I am sharing a Sympathy card.  Not an easy card to make of course and I tried to go for something very simple and understated which is what I prefer for my Sympathy cards - plus it needed to be very flat as I was posting it to the USA:

The dry embossing is an old folder by Cuttlebug - Grace's Frame - which is still widely available online.  I think this embossing folder is very elegant and suitable for many different occasions.

The tree and sentiment are by Stampin' Up from their Thoughts and Prayers set and were  stamped with Memento Gray Flannel dye ink which gave a lovely softness to the images as opposed to using black ink which can sometimes look a bit harsh.

I layered the main panel onto some dusky pink designer paper by Creativ which I bought from KMart (Australia).  The paper has no particular name - just an Item No. - and comes in a set of 24 sheets - 6" x 6" and from memory, I think it cost about $2.50.  It's a really nice set as there are some gorgeous burgundy, brown and dusky pink sheets - all very vintage in style.  I trimmed the paper to 1/16" using my Perfect Layers Tools.

I punched a heart using a Carl CP-8 Heart punch from the same dusky pink paper and glued that next to the sentiment using Tombow Mono Multi glue.

Lastly, I adhered the main panel to a white card base using doublesided tape.

Thanks for visiting my blog today.

Jocelyn


Card Recipe:

Stamps:  Stampin' Up Thoughts and Prayers

Ink:  Memento Gray Flannel dye ink

Designer Paper:  Creativ 6" x 6" Mini Paper Stack, item no. 720/171691 (KMart Aust)

Accessories:  Big Shot, Cuttlebug Grace's Frame embossing folder, Perfect Layers Tools, Tombow Mono Multi glue, doublesided tape, white cardstock

Punches:  Carl CP-8 Heart twin punch (I used the largest heart)

Secret Garden Vintage-inspired birthday card

Hi blogging friends 
 
Sheesh, I don't know what is up with Blogger!  It has been publishing my posts  when I have saved it as a Draft (which it did with my last post as well as this one) - so if you subscribe by email, you might get 2 emails now that I have re-published this post as I hadn't finished it before (sorry about that!).  The first email will probably say that the "post doesn't exist" if you click on the link because I changed the post name.  Just click on the latest email and it should take you to the right post.  If you read my posts via a Reader, it may also say that the post doesn't exist until I re-publish this one.  So annoying 

I was doing some tidying up in my Craft Room and came across some gorgeous papers by Graphic45 from their Secret Garden Collection (2013) and thought I would make a Vintage-inspired birthday card.  If you are a regular follower of my blog, you will already know that I am "too neat" to tear and rip edges like other cardmakers who are experts at Vintage-style cards - and I just can't add a gazillion embellishments and tizz up my card too much:  I get brain-freeze!   And whilst I am a little intimidated by making these sorts of cards, I have become comfortable with my own interpretation of that style.  Maybe there is another name for my style of Vintage?  Maybe it's Shabby-Chic (?).  If you can enlighten me, please do so :-)

This is also my card for Craftyhazelnut's Patterned Paper January Challenge (see details and link below).

The main image is from the Springtime #4500650 sheet which already had the beige and green borders so all I had to do was cut it out and distress it using my Ranger round blending tool and Antique Linen Distress ink.  I added some Summer Flowersoft to some of the flower centres using tacky glue and once dry, added some Stampin' Up Dazzling Details glitter glue for a bit of sparkle.  This panel is attached to my card using 0.5mm dimensionals.  

Here is a close-up:

And another close-up where hopefully you might see a little bit of the Flowersoft and sparkle (?):

The designer paper on the card base and panel is also from Graphic45 from their Baby 2 Bride Collection which I have had for ages and is from 2007 (how's that for hoarding?!!).  I also distressed the paper using Antique Linen Distress ink.  The green cardstock was trimmed to 1/8" using my Perfect Layers tools.  

The bottom punched border is my all-time favourite:  Martha Stewart Doily Lace.

I dyed the seam binding myself using a mix of paint colours:  Skin Tone Base and Peach Cobbler plus Textile Medium in equal quantities.  The seam binding and bow were added in 2 separate elements and the bow itself was made using my Bow Easy.  I added Fray Stop to the cut ends to stop them from fraying

The paper rose was originally cream but I added some watered-down paint to match the seam binding then added a some Dazzling Details for sparkle.  The green part underneath the ribbon was originally a bright green which didn't match the rest of my card so I trimmed it off then punched a star from the same green cardstock that I used on my card and glued it on.

I diecut 2 x Vintage Corners from green cardstock using my Cuttlebug, distressed them using Antique Linen Distress Ink then glued them to the top of the main image panel using Tombow Mono Multi glue.  I punched a butterfly from some matching peachy coloured Secret Garden designer paper using a Carl CP-1 Butterfly-A punch, added 2 tiny pearls from my stash then added a little bit of Dazzling Details glitter glue.

Challenges:

I am entering my card in the following challenge -

Craftyhazelnut's Patterned Paper January Challenge - Anything Goes - but you must use patterned paper to cover your card base or project and Hazel must be able to see that you have used patterned paper for your project.   The whole idea behind the challenge is to encourage you to use your stash of papers (and let's face it, most of us have enough to last 10 lifetimes!). 

Thanks for visiting my blog today.

Jocelyn


Card Recipe:

Stamps:  None

Ink:  Ranger Antique Linen Distress 

Designer Paper:  Graphic45 Secret Garden Collection (2013) + Baby 2 Bride Collection - Unchained Melody #450023 (2007)

Dies:  Provocraft Vintage set 37-1201

Accessories:  Cuttlebug, Ranger round blending tool, Stampin' Up Dazzling Details glitter glue, Crafter's Pick Incredibly Tacky glue, Stampin' Up Fuse Fast adhesive, Tombow Mono Multi glue, cream seam binding, acrylic paints - JoSonja Skin Tone Base + Folk Art Peach Cobbler, JoSonja Textile Medium, Fray Stop, Bow Easy, Perfect Layers Tools, 0.5mm dimensionals, cream paper flower, cardstock - olive green, white cardstock base, tiny peach pearls from stash, Flowersoft Summer

Punches:  Carl CP-1 Butterfly-A + CP-1 Star, Martha Stewart Lace Doily edge

LOTV - You are my sunshine birthday card

Hi blogging friends

Happy New Year!  Boy it sure is hot here where I live!  Today it was 39 deg C (102 deg F) and tomorrow it is meant to be 42 deg C (108 deg F) - uggh!  I am so glad we have air-conditioning and I tend to do more crafting in summer because I am inside the house alot more keeping out of the awful heat.  Plus we live in a bushfire-prone area so we need to stay home on really hot days to keep an eye on things. 

Today I am sharing a card that I made for my American sister-in-law's birthday:

My SIL is one of my biggest fans and a great encourager to my cardmaking - and one of the loveliest ladies you could ever meet:  so kind, caring and enthusiastic.

The image is from Lili of the Valley (UK) and was stamped onto watercolour cardstock using Ranger Archival Jet Black ink and coloured with Lyra + Faber-Castell watercolour pencils.  I lightly chalked around the image using blue chalk for the sky.  

My process for cardmaking is to choose the image then the papers so I can match up the colouring with my designer papers.  I couldn't get the pink shade quite right on my flowers nor the tealy-aqua - and I was getting very frustrated and the flowers ended up looking very ho-hum because you can't fiddle with watercolour paper too much or it starts to pill.  I almost threw the image out when I had a sudden flash of inspiration - paper-piecing!  Yep, that technique that I keep forgetting about!

So I re-stamped the image onto another sheet of matching pink paper and tealy-aqua paper and cut out the flowers.  They were VERY fiddly to cut out but I just took my time and used some of those super-magnifying glasses that you can buy from the shops so I could see what I was doing - and once I had cut them out, I went around the edges with a black pen to hide any imperfections with my cutting.  Yay - image saved and I was no longer grumpy!

I attached the flowers to my image using Tombow Mono Aqua glue which gave me a little bit of time to move the flowers into their exact position before pressing down firmly.  I added a bit of orange and yellow to the flower centres using Tombow pens plus a little bit of grey under the flower centres to give some depth to the flowers.  Here is a close-up:

The sentiment is also by Lili of the Valley from their set - General Greetings Small.

I used an EK Success Arrows Border punch to punch tiny little hearts (ie: they are the leftover punchies which look like tiny hearts) from the pink + tealy-aqua paper and glued them around the sentiment.  I added Stampin' Up Dazzling Details glitter glue to these hearts, the teddy's cheeks, all the flower centres and all over the butterfly.

The main image panel was attached to 2 sheets of designer paper and were trimmed to 1/8" and 1/16" respectively using my Perfect Layers Tools.

The pink and green on the card base is also designer paper and these were trimmed to 1/8".  I tied on some Blossom Iridescent twine and added Fray Stop to the cut ends to stop them from fraying.  I love this twine because it has a sparkly thread through it and it's so pretty. 

I glued on 3 pink Sparklets using Glossy Accents.  I kept the card very simple as I usually do plus I didn't want to cover up the pretty floral base paper.  Lastly, I added my card front to a white cardstock base using Stampin' Up Fuse Fast adhesive which is super-strong.

Challenges:

I am entering my card in the following challenges -

Splitcoaststampers - Technique Lover's Challenge TLC485 of Paper Piecing Revisited - which is from a while ago but there are no time limits on SCS Challenges

Cute Card Thursday - Challenge #354 - Anything Goes

Finished size is 4-5/8" x 4-5/8" or 117mm x 117mm.

Thanks for stopping by and for any comments that you care to leave - they are really appreciated :-)

Jocelyn


Card Recipe:

Stamps:  Lili of the Valley (UK) You are my Sunshine ST378 + General Greetings - Small ST063

Ink:  Ranger Archival Jet Black

Designer Paper:  First Edition Spring Drop 6" x 6" pad

Accessories:  Perfect Layers Tools, Ranger Distress Watercolour cardstock, Kaisercraft blue chalk, SU Fuse Fast adhesive, Tombow Mono Aqua glue, black pen, The Twinery Blossom Iridescent twine, Fray Stop, Lyra + Faber-Castell watercolour pencils, Tombow pens, #2 round paintbrush, Fiskars Stamp Press, Glossy Accents, pink Sparklets (EBay), SU Dazzling Details glitter glue, paper-tole scissors, white cardstock (card base)

Punches:  EK Success Arrows Border