…And all we need of hell

I have another sympathy card to share today featuring stamps from Altenew’s Beautiful Day and Painted Butterflies.

The front of the card follows the current sketch over at CAS Colours & Sketches.  I’ve used a flower for the circular element and swapped out the thin rectangular element for a butterfly.  To add in my sentiment I’ve used an elegant die from Simon Says Stamp!.

My colour palette and the background stencilling come from the picture at Inspired by All the Little Things.  I used a brush to stencil the quatrefoil background and I really like the way it gave a soft and also mottled effect.  I’ve also picked up the shades of pink for my flower and the green in my die cut.

Over at Papercraft Challenges they are looking for trifold-cards so I thought I would add a bit of interest to my card by creating a card with a die cut in the top layer and stamping on a secondary inner layer.  When you lift the top, you get another butterfly and a further sentiment.  I kept this inner layer very simple and just stamped the outline of the butterflies but did them and the sentiment in gold embossing powder.

A shot from the side to show the tri-fold.

 

Ingredients:

Chalks & Powders etc

WOW! Embossing Powder ~ Metallic Gold Rich Pale

Dies, SVGs & Templates etc

Altenew Dies ~ Painted Butterflies

Simon Says Stamp! Dies ~ SSSD111630 Handlettered Greetings

Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Collection Layering Stencil ~ THS074 Trellis

Inks & Paints etc

Altenew Crisp Inks ~ Coral Berry, Forest Glades, Frayed Leaf, Frosty Pink & Ruby Red

Tim Holtz Distress Ink ~ Antique Linen & Spun Sugar

Papers

Bazzill Card Shoppe Cardstock ~ Marshmallow

Stamps

Altenew ~ Beautiful Day & Painted Butterflies

Stampin’ Up! ~ Thoughts & Prayers

Challenges

Papercraft Challenges #3 ~ Trifold-card

Thanks for stopping by!

Parting is all we know of heaven…

I’m sharing a sympathy card featuring one of the stamps from the Artistically Asian set by Stampin’ Up!.

Last year a lot of people I knew felt the sad hand of death losing loved ones and making sympathy cards was starting to get a bit much.  Then I thought of trying the umbrella theory, you know, when you take one with you it’s bound not to rain and the reverse is true, forget your umbrella and it’s bound to pour.  So, I thought I’d make some sympathy cards to have on hand in the hopes I wouldn’t need them.  Not sure if it worked but the number I was giving out did taper off.

So, when I saw the current prompt at CASology was late it reminded me of my umbrella theory.  I know, a bit dark, especially when I look at all the bright and cheery birthday cards the DT made and others have entered but I just immediately thought of the euphemistic reference to the dead as “the late…”.  Which then pushed me to make a couple of sympathy cards for my stash because just maybe the umbrella theory does work and, even if it doesn’t, it’s way easier to make them when you don’t actually need one.

For this one I’ve used the current sketch at Freshly Made Sketches.  I’ve picked up the three floral elements with my watercolour stamping, I did a bit of mirror stamping to create the third flower.  The three elements have been echoed in some gems for just a little bit of added beauty.

My colour scheme comes from the current palette at Cupcake Inspirations.  I’ve used cream for my cardstock and the gems.  The flowers are stamped in Picked Raspberry that looks a lot like the rose icing on the cupcake.  To bring in the black I’ve die cut my sentiment from my NBUS die from Simon Says Stamp!.  I did introduce a fourth colour with just a dash of green on the flower stems.

Bringing the sketch and colour palette together has given me a simple but elegant card, which I’m hoping stays firmly in my stash and isn’t actually needed.

Ingredients:

Dies, SVGs & Templates etc

Simon Says Stamp! Dies ~ SSSD111360 With Sympathy

Embellishments

Close To My Heart ~ Gems

Inks & Paints etc

Tim Holtz Distress Markers ~ Mowed Grass & Picked Raspberry

Papers

Bazzill Card Shoppe Cardstock ~ Marshmallow

Bazzill Prismatic Cardstock ~ Black

Pion Design Palette ~ White II

Stamps

Stampin’ Up! ~ Artistically Asian

Challenges

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…like a piano the choreographer plays

Sharing a card I made for my niece featuring the Love to Dance image from All Dressed Up.

I chose the image because my niece is a dedicated little ballerina, although not so little any more, she’s almost taller than me and only just turned 12!  The colour palette over at CAS Colours & Sketches caught my eye, they were so pretty that I had to use them on my card.  I’ve water coloured my image using the two purple shades for the ballerina’s dress.  I’ve then added in the blue with some stamped stars that I’ve also heat embossed in clear embossing powder for some added shine.  I was going to add in some sequins but the stars looked good enough on their own that I didn’t need to add in any other embellies.  The sentiment is one of Zoe’s new chippies, I just love them all!  I started by inking it in Wisteria Wonder then doused it in a mix of micro glitter (a gift from a craft friend) and clear embossing powder to make the glitter stick.  In the end I got a sort of mottled look with some of the ink showing through and some glittered patches, which I actually quite like.

The layout follows the current sketch at CAS(E) this Sketch, which I flipped on its side and resized to my usual 6x6 square.  Keeping this super CAS, I added in the thin rectangular element with my image (she was perfectly skinny like the rectangle) and stamped stars.  Instead of the round element with a sentiment on it I used the chippie sentiment for the entire element.  I did add a bit more interest by double matting my image on some Wisteria Wonder and Perfect Plum cardstock to tie in with the colours of the image.

As I’ve used an All Dressed Up image I am also entering my card in their current challenge.

Ingredients:

Chalks & Powders etc

Ranger Embossing Powder ~ Super Fine Detail Clear

Sparkle’n’Sprinkle Microfine Glitter ~ Hyacinth

Embellishments

Make it Crafty Chipboard Cursive Sentiments ~ Birthday Wishes

Inks & Paints etc

Stampin’ Up! Stampin’ Pad ~ Perfect Plum, Soft Sky & Wisteria Wonder

Tim Holtz Distress Ink ~ Embossing

Tim Holtz Distress Reinkers ~ Candy Apply, Gathered Twigs, Ground Espresso, Tea Dye & Worn Lipstick

Papers

Arches Watercolor ~ 185gsm Smooth

Bazzill Card Shoppe Cardstock ~ Marshmallow

Stampin’ Up! Cardstock ~ Perfect Plum, Soft Sky & Wisteria Wonder

Stamps

All Dressed Up ~ Love to Dance

Gerda Steiner Designs ~ 467 Alien Invasion (stars)

Challenges

All Dressed Up #77 ~ Anything goes

CAS(E) this Sketch ~ Sketch #255

CAS Colours & Sketches #255 ~ Wisteria Wonder, Soft Sky & Perfect Plum

Thanks for stopping by!