Simple Sympathy

Recently a colleague at school lost her dad.  It is so hard to know  what to say to someone who loses someone they love and so I let my card do my talking for me.  Here is the one I sent her:

Sympathy card for a colleague using the Sweet Floral background stamp and the sentiment from Thanks For Caring (retired) set.

Inside of card using sentiment from Thoughts and Prayers set.

This is one of many of the new background stamps that I fell in love with on seeing the new catalogue.  It is so detailed and such a beautiful image I just HAD to own it!  Ironically, this is the first time I've used it!  It was another victim of "Too-Many-New-Stamps-All-At-Once" syndrome.  I am so glad that I did finally pull it out because it really is a beautiful image.  I stamped it in concord crush on wisteria wonder cardstock, sponged the edges and then layered it on always artichoke.  Those three colours compliment eachother so nicely!  The sentiment is embossed using the new pewter embossing powder from the Holiday Mini.  If you haven't tried this stuff yet you MUST!  It can look silver or gold depending on what colours you surround it with.  On this card it has a more golden tinge.  The sentiment on the inside is from Thoughts and Prayers and is again stamped in concord crush but this time on very vanilla.  I stamped a portion of the floral image again, stamping off first to give a faded look.  This simple card meant a great deal to its recipient which in turn meant a great deal to me.  That is what I love most about this hobby:  being able to create something beautiful to make someone else feel special.

For a Friend...

Last Friday I got word that a customer of mine had a biopsy to check for breast cancer.  She went in for an ultrasound because she'd been having some pain under her arm for several weeks and ended up staying for the biopsy.  This isn't good news because her mother is a breast cancer survivor and we all know, it often runs in families.  She has to wait until the end of this week to get the results and so I made her a card to let her know I'm thinking of her and praying for the best possible outcome:  a clean bill of health!  Here is the card I made:

For this card I used the Elegant Bouquet embossing folder and the Because I Card hostess set.

I added colour to the embossed image by inking it with my Versamarker and then adding chalk from my pastels.  The Versamarker helps the chalk stick to the image and makes the colour more vibrant.

Close up of pierced edges and sentiment from Because I Care set.

Inside of card stamped with floral image from Thought and Prayers set and sentiment from Thanks for Caring set.

To me, this card looks like spring.  I wanted it to be a hopeful card filled with the promise of new life.  I hope my customer feels that when she opens it.  Here is what I did to create it...

I started with a piece of very vanilla cardstock and ran it through my Big Shot with the Elegant Bouquet EF.  I then took my Versarmarker and inked the raised portions and then dabbed colour from my pastels onto the flowers, vines and leaves.  The colours I used were pink pirouette and rose red for the flowers and certainly celery and garden green for the leaves and vine.  I then adhere the embossed piece to a slightly larger piece of blushing bride cardstock.  I cut a smaller strip of blushing bride, punched the edge with my scalloped edge punch and adhered it along the left side of the embossed piece.  I then pierced a double line along the top and right edges using my mat pack and piercing tool.  Then I adhered a piece of pear pizzazz seam binding ribbon to the left side of the cardfront and layered a piece of chantilly crochet trim over top of the seam binding.  I took separate pieces of seam binding and lace, looped them into a bow and secured it with an antique brad.  I then adhered the bow to the cardfront using tombow.  The entire cardfront was then secured to a pear pizzazz card base.  The sentiment, from the Because I Care level one hostess set, was inked with pear pizzazz and blushing bride markers, stamped on a piece of very vanilla scrap and then punched out with my large oval punch.  I layered the sentiment on a scalloped oval in pear pizzazz and adhered it to the card using dimensionals.  The final touch on the front of the card is the tiny pearls I added to the centres of the flowers.

For the inside of the card, I started with another piece of very vanilla cardstock (the same size as the one on the front) and stamped the floral image from the Thoughts and Prayers set which I inked using my pear pizzazz and blushing bride markers.  I then stamped the sentiment from the Thanks for Caring set (Occasions Mini) in pear pizzazz and layered the vanilla piece on a a slightly larger blushing bride piece of cardstock.  I had some scrap bits of seam binding laying around so I added a wee bit to the lower left corner, securing it with glue dots.  I then adhered the whole thing inside the card using SNAIL.

I really love how soft and spring-y this card is...I hope the recipient does too!