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Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Sympathy Cards

The most difficult cards for me to make are sympathy cards. It is always so hard to put the sadness aside and think of a way to send hugs to the friends and family that are going through such a difficult transition. Because I needed a card for such an occasion, I made a few to have on hand.


Our daughter and her husband have a dear friend that recently lost his younger brother. My husband and I both feel such a closeness to this guy and wanted to send a card. Here is my attempt at trying to relay our sympathies to he and his family...



I used SU Very Vanilla for this card. The second layer is dry embossed with the curly folder. The picture could have been better to show the embossing!  The top layer is stamped with SU Thoughts and Prayers, colored with Early Espresso, Melon Mambo, and Pear Pizazz. Each flower has a small pearl adhered with crystal effects.  The sentiment is Hero Arts CL342 and stamped with Early Espresso ink.  The inside sentiment is from the Thoughts and Prayers set and was perfect for the way we were feeling. All of the edges are rounded with the Corner Chomper. I really liked the effect of keeping the Very Vanilla  for all three layers. 

Here is the other card I made from the same stamp set:


As you can see I basically followed the same idea, just changing up the center stamp and here I added some adhesive ribbon from American Crafts to match. The three adhesive pearls from Martha Stewart are under the sentiment, which is also from the Hero Arts CL342 set. Because I liked the simplicity of the card and the sentiment, I made a couple of others to keep on hand.



Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Thinking of You


My husband has a friend that is in the hospital with a rare condition that has him paralyzed from the neck down, unable to speak or move. Denis has been this way for over four months now. He is about our age and it happened so suddenly, although we do not know he or his wife very well. It is at times like this that I am so very thankful for the many, MANY blessings in my life! 

I was thrilled when John asked me to make a thinking of you card which is below:


I used the WPlus9 Guiding Light stamp set with dies. It is on SU Crumb Cake, with a watercolor paper for the water and also for the sky. I used Distress Inks, Broken China and Faded Jeans mixed with Perfect Pearls Mist, to "paint" the water, ripping the edges to look like the ocean foam on the rocks. I tried to get a picture to show it, but this is the best I could do!



I used just the Distress Ink blues to sponge the sky, with some Distress Wild Honey for the edges on another piece of watercolor paper. The gold light in the lighthouse is a Recollections gold rhinestone. Love how it looks here...The die cut rocks are layered in the front with foam glue dots as are the heron, pilings, and cattails. I used SU Basic Grey for the rocks and Staz-On Black for the lighthouse.  You may also recognize the birds from SU Up, Up and Away.

The sentiment from Hero Arts CL324 is on a strip of vellum cut to a banner, and the sentiment inside says, "sending you sunshine"  from the same stamp set. I hope that Denis and his family feel that guiding light on these dark days....





More Anniversaries

My brother and his wife have been married since July 25, 1964... 49 years this year. I remember it as a bridesmaid... I was 13 at the time. Her mother made all of the dresses for the entire female wedding party... hard to believe! There were five bridesmaids, including the maid of honor. It was such a beautiful day and the wedding was lovely...

Here's my card for them:


The card is one layer on white. I scored and masked a 1-inch space for the sentiment. Then I stamped and masked several flowers from the WPlus9 Fresh Cut Florals with multiple colors. I rounded the corners with the Corner Chomper and stamped the sentiment with Hero Arts CL342. It went very quickly and I love the Fresh Cut Florals although I didn't use the dies for this card.

My next anniversary card is for my daughter and her husband for their 6th anniversary. 


Stephanie and Chris have been married six years and are the proud parents of two adorable girls. This is a picture from their wedding dance... looking through the window. The colors of the house are patterned from their new home. It is retired SU Bordering Blue with Black shutters and windowbox. The Madison Window die was perfect for my vision of the happy couple.

The WPlus9 Fresh Cut Florals stamp set and die was used with all SU colors, and then layered with dimensionals to provide a 3D look. The sentiment is from Hero Arts CL342 in Staz-On Black ink. Inside the sentiment says - Hugs and Kisses. 


Sunday, July 14, 2013

Anniversaries


Two of our married children have their anniversaries this month. I really had an idea in my mind to use the Madison window die and make a card ... looking through the window into each house, seeing them on the inside with a picture from when they were married. Easier said than done!

Here are the results:





Jess and Steve have been married 16 years! So hard to believe it has been that long. Their house now is a warm brown with white trim and cranberry shutters. I found this old photo of them at their first condo in Virginia Beach... Don't they look so happy? And I do believe they still are! Makes me think it's today's house looking back at where they started.  I used SU Crumb Cake, Cranberry Crisp and White for the windows.

Love the die and window... Wplus9 Fresh Floral Cuts stamp with matching dies made up the window box flowers. LOVED playing with them! Lots of different colors and layers to make the flowers. The lilacs actually have three layers to the stamp.  I did use dimensionals to give them a 3D look.  I layered the window to give added depth and used plastic to give a real window look. I love the result... much more like what I was thinking!

Next is our son John, and his wife Erica, who have been married nine years. The photo is from their rehearsal dinner nine years ago... and you can see that I was trying to have the same plan of their house, looking back to that fun evening...



I really love the way this one came out, even though it is difficult to see with that glare from the plastic "window." I used the same procedure as before but used more dimensionals to give the added depth to the flower box.  In the next photo I think it is easier to see what the layers added to the card. 

The colors are SU So Saffron, and SU Cranberry Crisp for the house. The flowers are various colors, and at least two layers of stamping to each one. I will use these flowers many times I am sure...

The last family anniversary is our daughter Stephanie's on August 5th. I'll be making another window card with those fun flowers for sure! 







John's Birthday

My husband's birthday is July 9th and he LOVES baseball- especially the Mets! So the 7th Inning Stretch set from PTI with the matching dies was perfect for his card . I also watched Julie Davison's video (www.juliedavison.com) from her 5 favorite cards from last year. I could just "see" the baseball diamond on the front.  Here's my result:



The first picture shows the fold from the angle to see the inside. The front of the card made with SU Crumb Cake and is cut to make a baseball diamond. I cut a square from SU Garden Green paper, added strips of SU Very Vanilla, and punched the 1st, 2nd and 3rd base edges. Then I added a pitcher's mound and home plate with a circle punch. Bryant Gumble's quote is stamped on vellum with Staz-On black ink.  

I do not have the Stampin Up scoring tool, so I had to compute the dimensions of the fold from the size of the square. Julie's video is so great that a little math was not too difficult! The inside of the card is on Whisper White cardstock. The dies made the rest of this card so easy to put together... Adding the Mets-color cap and glove ... then I put dimensionals under the baseball allowing the flap to just barely go under it to close. The sentiment says, "Here's hoping your birthday is a Grand Slam!" I stamped "Happy" at the base spots around the sentiment and birthday at home plate. I used "stitching" around the inside to add some color.

It was fun to do, but not sure that I would try it again... It didn't quite match my vision!

Sympathy Card

It is always difficult for me to get the energy to do a sympathy card when i need one... so I always try to have some on hand. The last time I went to a Stampin Up card activity we made cards that are perfect for this occasion. It also made me love the herb expression set! The demonstrator was a teacher and did cards as a hobby with her business side as a way to support the card making! Anyway, it is totally her materials and ideas...

I really don't remember the colors or much of the stamping. I just wanted to get the design here, so I can use it as an idea again. I did like the white stamping on chocolate chip.