With Sympathy | ft. Stampin' Up "Birthday Blooms"

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

Finally got the voice over for this video working, I do apologize for the delay. I hope when you watch you'll find it was worth the wait.

To begin, I stamped the large flower from Stampin' Up "Birthday Blooms" with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic friendly cardstock. I then coloured it with Copic markers and fussy cut it out. The image is actually much larger, but I didn't want all that stuff.

The greeting is from Stampin' Up "Rose Wonder" set, also stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink.

I prepped a piece of 65lb black cardstock from Recollections with my powder tool and stamped the flourish images from Inkadinkado with VersaMark Ink, then heat embossed with clear embossing powder.

I adhered that panel to the front of a standard A2 sized card base, then added my greeting strip. It was a little harsh, so I used my black gelly roll pen to add some stitching detail.

I popped the flower up on foam tape and placed that on top. To finish off the card I used some clear Wink of Stella over the petals, glossy accents over the centre bits of the flower and some Black Nuvo Crystal drops to add some accents on the background.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar, over on Facebook and now on YouTube! Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

Nothing Fancy About It | Old School Sympathy

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

With all the stamps and embellishments and patterned paper and glitter (the list goes on and on) we have these days, every now and then I like to go back to my roots. To where I started out with just some cardstock and some paper flowers.

For this card, I wanted a high contrast with a very simple design. I felt the black with white accents would convey my intentions in a delicate and elegant way.

This card pretty much speaks for itself; though if I were to change anything, I would have made the card base out of black cardstock. As the outer frame is raised, you can see the white base around the inner area. If you look at the card straight on, you can't really see it, but at any other angle it's there.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar or over on Facebook, so you don't miss any future posts. Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

Sympathy Silhouette | ft. Distress Inks

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

We all have our favourite types of cards to make, I seem to go through phases - aside from whichever season or series I'm working on, I find I typically make a lot of birthday cards to fill in the spaces but every so often I find myself making a lot of sympathy cards - or "thinking of you" cards that can be used as sympathy cards.

I find them calming and comforting when I'm not feeling very awesome.

To begin, I used Chipped Sapphire, Faded Jeans, Dusty Concord and Seedless Preserves Distress Ink to create my background. I then splattered it with clean water and patted it dry with a clean paper towel.

Once the background was completely dry, I used the floral silhouette stamp from CTMH "Paper Garden" with archival ink. I prefer to use archival ink because it is waterproof and won't bleed if the background isn't actually completely dry.

I stamped the greeting with the same archival ink and then mounted that panel to the front of a standard A2 sized card base (this time in black). To finish off the card I added a few mini diamonds to brighten it up a touch and to add a bit of embellishment because I just can't stop myself.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar or over on Facebook, so you don't miss any future posts. Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

Pet Sympathy | ft. Clearly Besotted "Thinking of You"

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

A little while ago, a friend of mine lost her dog and like any other loss it was not awesome. Loss is a terrible thing, whether a pet or a loved one passes away, or someone incredibly important in your life decides that they need to get a new perspective. Grief is still grief, and it is cutting and it is hard and there are no words than anyone can ever say that will make it better.

All another person can do is sit and listen when you cry and rant and vent and throw things. But that's the most important thing; having a safe space where you can feel all those things without fear of judgement or reprimand. Just letting the other person know that you are there can make all the difference in the world.

To begin, I stamped the lilies from Clearly Besotted's "Thinking of You" set with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock. I then coloured the image with Copic markers and masked it off.

I used Hickory Smoke and Black Soot Distress ink to create a dark halo around the flowers fading out towards the edges.

While that was drying, I prepped a piece of vellum with my powder tool and heat embossed these dog prints with detail black embossing powder, then fussy cut them out. I ran them through my sticker maker and adhered them to the panel.

I mounted the panel to a piece of charcoal cardstock then adhered the whole piece to a standard A2 sized card base. To finish it off I went over the petals with my clear Wink of Stella glitter brush pen.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar or over on Facebook, so you don't miss any future posts. Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

This card is for:

Muse Challenge #248

Inspired by Anita Bowden

Wintery Sympathy

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

I'm not feeling very festive this morning. I just got word that my dear friend lost her dog this morning. She was an older farm dog with a heart of gold. Despite being a giant Rottweiler, she thought she was a tiny little lap dog that always wanted to snuggle. She adopted me and my kids as part of her family and loved to have us all around her. Since a puppy she has always been fiercely protective of the children and the property; she lived a great life with lots of room to run. If there is a doggy heaven, I'm sure she's chasing birds there now.

I'm sorry it's not a cheery post, but sometimes it's more about the emotions than it is about the season. 

I'm not sharing the process today as I feel it would cheapen the day of our sadness. I hope you all understand.

I hope to be back on track tomorrow, with something more festive to share.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar or over on Facebook, so you don't miss any future posts. Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

Sympathy Silhouette | ft. Distress Oxide Inks

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

A while back I did a comparison between Distress Inks and Distress Oxide Inks (you can see that post here, Distress Showdown) and I showed the most common uses for my current collection of regular Distress inks and how the Oxides compared.

This was the first time I stamped over a Distress Oxide background, and I'm beyond impressed with the results. I cannot believe how crisp the images turned out, with the help of the MISTI, of course.

I have been holding off on getting more Oxides because I didn't know if I really wanted duplicate inks that didn't come in the mini cubes taking up space - as we all know the space we have is precious. This really tipped the scales for me, and I have a list going of my most used Distress inks that I want to get in the Oxides. I was so pleased with how the background turned out and the crisp stamping on top that it is definitely worth the space they large pads will take up.

To begin, I sponged Salty Ocean and Broken China Distress Oxide inks over my panel to create a very subtle ombre look, with the darkest in the lower left corner. I then used my Distress Sprayer to spritz water over the panel, let that sit for about 20 seconds then blotted it dry with a clean paper towel.

Once the panel was completely dry, I put it in my MISTI and stamped the floral silhouette from Inkadinkado and the greeting from (Recollection, I think) with CTMH Archival Black ink. I did notice that the Archival ink stayed wet a bit longer than it normally would, as though the pigment in the Oxides created a barrier. So stamp with caution! Wait until it is dry before touching. Smearing is likely to occur.

Once the ink was dry, I used a piece of black twine to create a bow. I would love to find twine that doesn't have all these little hairs sticking out of it. I love twine, but I do not love this.

I then mounted the coloured background to a piece of black cardstock, then adhered the whole lot to the front of a standard A2 sized card base.

I then used my Nuvo Crystal Drops (gloss) in Ebony Black to add a bit of detail. The more I use these drops the more I absolutely love them (foreshadow - review/comparison coming soon!) I'm less happy about the 24 hour cure time on the drops, but frankly the finished product is well worth the wait.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar or over on Facebook, so you don't miss any future posts. Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

This card is for:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge

Anything Goes

Sunset Sympathy

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you are having a great day.

I was a little bit torn on whether to add this card to the Floral Thoughts mini series or let it stand alone. In the end it seemed more fitting to keep it outside the series.

I wanted to convey a simplistic beauty while maintaining a subtle sadness that generally comes with giving a sympathy card. I saw this colour combination on Pinterest (I wish I had saved the link to share it, she had so many fabulous combinations, it was a joy to read).

I find it somewhat therapeutic to create sympathy cards when I'm missing my Dad; channeling my sorrow into something beautiful that he would have loved. Classic tortured artist, right? Nothing that extreme, I assure you. Just a way to remember him creatively, I suppose.

To begin, I masked off the top and bottom inch of the panel with post-it tape. I then sponged Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade and Abandoned Coral Distress inks to create the sunset background.

Once that is completely dry, I used my MISTI to stamp the swaying tree from Stampin' Up's Thoughts & Prayers stamp set in CTMH archival black ink. I used the MISTI to ensure that I could stamp image a second time in case it wasn't as dark as I wanted.

I cut the panel down to 4 x 5 1/4" and mounted that on a black panel cut to 4 1/8 x 5 3/8", this creates the tiny black boarder. I then mounted the entire bit on a standard A2 sized card base.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own.

Sympathy Silhouette

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you are all having a great day.

This card, and this post, are dedicated to my wonderful friend, Kathi. I found out the other day that Kathi had passed away in her sleep, and once again I'm at a loss. The world is darker for her passing and I think about her every day.

Kathi was one of the first friends to support and encourage my card making when I decided to move past creating cards for family. She was the first to like my facebook page, and one of the first to place an order. She was a constant source of support and "picker-upper-ness", especially when I felt things were bleak.

To create this card, I used an ink blending tool to sponge on Dusty Concord and Chipped Sapphire distress inks. I then used the water droplet technique to pull away splotches of colour and pressed with a clean paper towel. The droplets were much larger than I had originally planned, but as I waited for it to dry they looked more and more like tears. And that was fitting.

Once the panel (140lb coldpress watercolour paper) was fully dry, I used my MISTI to ink (and re-ink) the silhouette stamp and the greeting. If you are going to do this technique I highly recommend that you use a waterproof ink for the black. If your background is even a tiny little bit damp any ink that is not waterproof may bleed and ruin your project.

I then mounted the watercolour panel on a piece of layering weight black cardstock with super strong adhesive. I mounted that onto a white card base and added the micro gems. 

I hope you all liked the card for today, and are inspired to create something of your own.

Don't forget you can follow me using the blue button in the right sidebar or by clicking the facebook link above.

Old School Sympathy

Hi everyone, thank you so much for stopping by today.

With all of the gorgeous stamps and colouring mediums out there, it is very easy to let the more basic things fall away to the bottom of your stash.

For me, those things include my embossing folders. I remember a year ago when every card I made included an embossed panel. I just loved the texture and dimension it gave. I'm not sure when it happened, but at some point I stopped using those folders and slowly they made their way from my desk where everything is so easily accessible, to a box on my shelf.

Today, I have three variations of a simple to create sympathy card.

While the design for each of these cards is similar, the use of a different embossing folder gives each a unique look. 

It was incredibly difficult for me to not use stamps or glossy accents or glitter. 

Every now and then, it's good to go through the things that have made their way to the bottom of your stash and get back down to basics. There is a simplistic beauty to the cards we used to create, that's why we made them to begin with, right?

Our styles and techniques will change and evolve over time, keeping up with our interests and the things about the art that excite us, but don't forget to give a little love to your roots. If my first exposure to the world of card making had been all the crazily intricate stamping and colouring and layering I would have been way to intimidated and overwhelmed to even get started. 

Like any process, it all begins with the basics. You have to be able to do simple math before you can move on to advanced algebra, right? The concepts in art are really no different. At least in my opinion. 

I have also found it to be incredibly helpful (not to mention a confidence booster) to return to the basics when a more complicated project has gotten me down. We have all had moments where we just want to throw our hands up in the air and give up because it wasn't coming together the way it looked inside our head. Putting together a simple but elegant card, can help clear your mind and get your creativity back on track.

Just my thoughts on it. I'd love to hear yours.

Champagne Roses Sympathy Card

I have yet to experience anything worse than the unexpected passing of a loved one. After nearly 8 months, it still hits me every now and then that my father is gone, and it's hard to breathe. He was the strongest person I've ever known, working his whole life to create a home for his family.  

The morning before I created this card, I was in the craft store getting some small gifts for my daughters for Christmas. I was in the painting aisle and saw a painting he would have loved to do. He had done an owl before and it is magnificent. The one in the store would have been a beautiful match to it. 

Art has always been an escape for me, but more so now when the emotions remain so raw and painful.

This card is an expression of loss, of the beauty of his life and of my sorrow over knowing that my children will grow up without knowing the incredible man that was their Grandfather. 

And that I miss him more than I could ever articulate.

Clear embossed roses, coloured with PrismaColor pencils, with glossy accent dew drop and champagne metallic thread.

Watercolour Sympathy Card

No one likes to talk about it. No one likes to think about it, and we certainly do not plan what to say or do in the event that it happens. But it does happen.

Sooner or later we are all touched by death. Whether you have lost a close friend or relative, or you find yourself as a pillar of support for someone else to lean on during a difficult time, you will be faced with sadness and uncertainty.

No line watercolouring of black-eyed susans and butterfly with gold embossed greeting and three edge boarder.