With Sympathy

 I've somehow gotten 8 Sympathy cards made in the last month?  But I find when you come up with a card that works, it's best to make multiples, as they're something that you need to have on hand.  So here are this week's efforts - I was able to make four of these, using the pretty One Canoe Two papers, Verve die and sentiment, Spellbinders edge die and leafy die from Pinkfresh Studio.

Sympathy Cards

 I always need a stash of these at work, so put together four of these.  My love of patterned paper, means that I have plenty of pretty papers on hand, and this is the perfect way to use them.

Stamp set is Verve, die is Pinkfresh Studio, paper is One Canoe Two.

Deepest Sympathy

 They are the hardest cards to make, but we all need them from time to time.  I made up a couple of sympathy cards for coworkers this week.  I kept it simple, and used this beautiful paper from One Canoe Two, and a sentiment & die cuts from Verve.

My Spellbinders Hemstitched Rectangle die provided this pretty eyelet detail for a little contrast with the dark blue background.

Inspired By All The Little Things #44

It's my week as host over on the Inspired By All The Little Things blog!  I have chosen this carnival image with the sort-of magical twilight lighting.  I have a real "thing" for carnival images/art... so it's kind of funny that I didn't go that direction with my card!  Here's our image for the week:

 I also hadn't intended to do a sympathy card, but after creating the background, I wanted a sentiment that had a little more meaning to it.  I started by masking off the sun shape, and sponging the background with three different Distress Inks.  I chose the sentiment from Verve, and added some red twig die cuts where I sponged the tips with dark brown ink to deepen them a little like the edges of the Ferris Wheel in the photo.

My Guest Designer this week is my cyber-friend, Becca Whitham!  We are both former CTMH consultants, who started challenging each other to use up older papers that we've had kicking around for years.  She is a super talented lady, with a real knack for watercolouring on her cards.  Oh, and did I mention that she's a writer?  Check out her blog, and you can see the links to her books on her sidebar.

Cardstock is Bamboo, Black, White Daisy & Tulip - all CTMH; Stamp set is Inspire Hope by Verve; Hayden Twigs die by Memory Box; Distress Inks are Antique Linen, Tumbled Glass, Salty Ocean & Frayed Burlap; Black Onyx Ink by Versafine.

Mojo & All The Little Things

I am playing along with a new challenge on Lesley Croghan's blog, called "Inspired By All The Little Things".  She has posted an inspiration photo, which immediately made me think of this floral paper from Teresa Collins.  I'm using this week's Mojo Monday sketch:

I needed a sympathy card, so I pulled out an older set from Close To My Heart (Card Word Puzzle) and stamped it on a circle of watercolour paper.  I used the CTMH inks that matched my paper and used a paintbrush to paint the inks onto my image.  I popped it up over a piece of organdy ribbon to finish it off.  The sentiment is from Verve's "Blessings".

Patterned paper is You Are my Happy, by Teresa Collins; Cardstock and Inks are Sorbet & Desert Sand, CTMH; Colonial White organdy ribbon, CTMH; Sentiment is Blessings by Verve; Stamps are Card Word Puzzle, CTMH; STAX Circle & Stitched Circle dies, My Favorite Things.

Dynamic Duos #37

We have a lovely neutral colour combo for you this week at Dynamic Duos: the colours are Soft Suede & Crumb Cake.  I decided to do a sympathy card with a bit of tone on tone sponging on a 5 1/2" square card:

The design team has (as always!) some fabulous inspiration for you over at the Dynamic Duos blog, or you can see them listed on my sidebar.  We would love to have you join us this week by linking up your creation.  If you don't have the exact colours, just use something similar (I've used Close To My Heart's Cashmere & Champagne).

Cardstock is Cashmere, Champagne & Black; Inks are Cashmere, Champagne & Black; Stamp sets are Treasure Life, CTMH and Blessings, Verve;

 

Heart2Heart Challenge - Sympathy cards

This week's Heart2heart Challenge is sympathy cards, which are always good to have on hand - and my stash is getting low.  I made some similar cards a few months ago, and really liked using the Miracle papers for sympathy cards, as they're so soft & pretty.  I've done two version, the first one is pretty straight up:

For the second one, I made the cream oval a negative die cut through all the layers, so you're actually seeing the sentiment and butterfly on the inside of the card.  I used my metal die as a template and sponged bamboo ink inside of it to leave a bit of an oval shape on the inside as well:

and here's the inside:

Patterned papers are Miracle; Cardstock is Colonial White & Kraft; Inks are Bamboo, Heavenly Blue & Desert Sand; Just Paper Blooms, Butterfly; Mocha Opaque Pearls - all CTMH.  Stamp set is Blessings, Verve; Dies are Spellbinders & Taylored Expressions.

Sketchbook Saturday Challenge #49

Just getting this done in the nick of time...  This was such an unusual sketch, that I just had to play along with Sketchbook Saturday, but when I started out, I had in mind a bunch of stitched vines, maybe some 3D flowers - and my card turned out to be the complete opposite!  CAS is definitely not my usual style, but I'm really pleased with how it turned out.  I stamped the flowers up the left side in bamboo ink, then masked off the top and bottom of the card, leaving about a 2 1/2" strip.  I lightly sponged bamboo ink all over the exposed area, and then overstamped Universal Backgrounds in desert sand.  A little knotted organdy ribbon, and I was done:

White daisy cardstock; Bamboo & Desert Sand Inks; Ivory Organdy ribbon; Stamp sets are Card Word Puzzle & Universal Backgrounds - all CTMH; Sentiment is Blessings, Verve.

Color Throwdown Challenge #158 & RCC19

Here's an interesting colour combo for this week's Color Throwdown Challenge... it reminds me of CTMH's new Dreamin' papers:

I used a little Basic Grey Ambrosia for this, and some Verve stamps.  I'm also entering it in this week's Ribbon Carousel Challenge which is Anything Goes:

Patterned Papers are Basic Grey, Ambrosia; Sentiment is Blessings by Verve; Vintage Oval Frame die by Verve; Pacifica cardstock is CTMH; Liquorice Opaque Pearls are CTMH; Twine from The Twinery.