Tonight I needed some sympathy cards ... and my stash was depleted. When I saw the sketch at Try Stampin' On Tuesday, I knew exactly what I wanted to do.
These beautiful vellum butterfly stickers make a card come together so quickly, that I did one in another color palette.
A stamped sympathy sentiment and border punches, and they were ready to go.
I thought this week's Tuesday Trigger was the perfect opportunity to get inky tonight.
I had fun trying several inky techniques, and may try a few more inspired by this beautiful dress For tonight's card I sponged through a butterfly mask I made with punches using red, orange and purple inks.
I punched another butterfly from an inked scrap of paper and added a few adhesive pearls as embellishment. A sympathy sentiment seemed right for this hopeful design.
I love shopping at Ellen Hutson's store ... and I love seeing what beautifully colored thank you image will be included when my order arrives. I save all of the little envelopes (there's always some ribbon too) in a basket & today I decided to re-purpose several of the beautiful flower images into cards.
I pulled the colors for my card from the hues of this lovely Lavender in a Teacup. The sentiment is Hero Arts. The Sketch is from Simply Stampin' Challenge, but I realized after creating they require you to use at lease one Stampin' Up image, so I won't link-up there.
The next one features a window box full of blooms (Lockhart's In the Window, Roses) & this week's Sweet Stop Sketch Challenge.
Papers are some of the last scraps in my stash of Graphic45's Once Upon a Springtime Collection.
This card combines the Velveteen Stamping Technique featured at the Hero Arts Blog this month with the Moxie Fab World Cure for the Winter Blues Challenge.
I stamped the background with the same stamp Sherri used in her Video (the Leaf and Flower Background) and then inked the solid bloom from the Sweet Threads set and stamped it multiple times. The solid petals provided a great resist for the pigment ink. The font of With Sympathy sentiment is narrow, but close-up you can also see the pattern in the design.
I will admit it took me several tries to get it right. The chalk ink gave the best contrast with the white pigment ink, but I couldn't wipe after stamping like Sherri did in the video or I just ended-up with a big smudgy mess. Here's a close-up view of the blooms.
The layout is this week's Unscripted Sketch ... perfect for this CAS, easy to mail design.
Another masculine Thinking of You card using 7Gypsies paper and a vintage Hero Arts wooden stamp sentiment.
The layout is this week's Fetch A Sketch.
Life has been so darn unfair to several friends and family members lately ... and I feel so helpless being miles away ... so I channeled my love & concern into some cards to send across the miles.
The first one uses Fall To Layout #180 at the Clean & Simple Stamping Blog together with papers from My Mind's Eye Fine & Dandy True Blue Collection.
The Hero Arts Starbursts were stamped in a combination of Prussian Blue & Aquamarine Chalk ink to get the color I needed to coordinate with the paper (inked with Prussian Blue, stamped off once, and then inked with Aquamarine). I love how the pattern of the paper shows through the blooms.
The sentiment from Hero Arts With Sympathy was stamped on the same DP in India Ink and clear embossed to help it stand out against the background design.
The next card uses a scrap of the same My Mind's Eye paper with a black brocade paper from My Mind's Eye Lost & Found Sunshine Collection. The stamps are from the Hero Arts With Sympathy Set.
I used the same ink combination, but stamped the flower a second time for the lighter impression. The layout is the current Freshly Made Sketch.
Both cards are also for this month's Hero Arts Blog Fabulous Flowers Challenge.
My sympathy card stash at the office is completely depleted, so tonight I made some quick ones using my favorite sympathy stamps.
The first one uses this week's ColorQ Challenge together with a sketch from Sketch N Stash. There's also an Anything Goes Challenge happening at Simon Says Stamp.
The neglected things in my stash are my die cuts (which I don't use nearly enough) and a star punch I've had for years. Papers are Basic Grey's Little Black Dress & sentiment is Inky Antics.
Next card is inspired by this week's Inspired By Challenge Invitation ... love the colors and tall lines of the design.
I used a favorite sentiment from River City Rubber Works with Authentique Papers.
Sketch is this week's Mojo Monday Layout, and I added a wrap of ribbon for the Tie it Up! Challenge at Shopping our Stash. I bought an entire large spool of this ribbon years ago when a local scrapbooking store went out of business.
The final card uses Basic Grey's Marjolaine Collection ... I love the colors of this collection, but always struggle to make the patterns work well together.
Sketch is from Skipping Stones Designs and the sentiment is from Paper Inspirations.
There's still time to link-up your Five Favorite Holiday cards ... and your Ten Favorites of 2011.
This sympathy card features this week's Bo Bunny Card Sketch Tuesday together with Bo Bunny Timepiece papers.
Sentiment from Hero Arts With Sympathy set was stamped in dark brown and clear embossed, so it would stand out more against the background paper. I finished with Hero Arts flowers, adhesive lace, and brown pearls.
Thanks to everyone who voted for my Market Street Stamps card ... I didn't win, but was thrilled to be a finalized & truly appreciated your support. You still have a chance to get in on my craft room clean-out rubber stamp giveaway.
Unfortunately I depleted my sympathy card stash this week, so needed to make at least one to have on hand. I used this week's Sweet Sunday Sketch together with Authentique's Journey Collection. I love rich floral papers in tones that will work for both masculine & feminine.
The sentiment is a vintage Hero Arts.
Tonight I needed a sympathy card for a co-worker who lost her grandfather. I'm almost out of my second round of the Pink Paislee Queen Bee collection and will certainly miss it when it's depleted ... to me, it has the perfect muted hues & patterns for sympathy cards.
I stamped Impress' Climbing Blooms (or in my case descending blooms) in Charcoal ink on the designer paper and added a sentiment from Hero Arts With Sympathy along the side. The sketch is this week's CPS Sketch.
I added a die cut K&Company Butterfly for a bit of hopeful color.
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