Serene Sympathy

Today's card was inspired by the June Sketch @ Stamplorations and uses the "Stamps and Family" theme. It will also be entered @ Craftyhazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge  and @ Simon Says Stamp for their Wednesday "Use Patterned Paper" challenge. My son-in-law lost his grandma last weekend, so I have been busy making sympathy cards for them this week. 

The patterned paper I used for this card was a quarter sheet piece I got in a variety pack from winning a newsletter contest through Stampinton and Company last year. The sympathy stamp set is from Stampin' Up! and the leaf set is retired from The Angel Company.

I trimmed the patterned paper so that there was a small white border around the edge of my white A2 side folding card base but cut the sage green textured panel the same size as the card front. Using Versamark ink and my Stamp Perfect stamping tool I double stamped (to get a good impression over the texture of the paper) then heat embossed with Platinum embossing powder. Using the Perfect Crafting Pouch helped me to get a nice crisp image and the Perfect Cleaning Cloth took away any remaining dust out of the grooves in the textured cardstock once the embossing was cool.

I then stamped and embossed the leaf three times and fussy cut them out. To get the round shape around the sentiment I simply traced the outside edge of a circle template using a pencil and then cut it out by hand.

I adhered the sentiment flat to the card front with my ATG gun and then did the same with the top and bottom leaf along the edge of the curve...the middle leaf I popped up on foam dots to add some dimension. The mini sprigs were diecut from vellum and tucked behind the leaves along the border between the sentiment and the patterned paper using The Best Glue Ever.

The last step to completing the card front was to create some dry embossing along the bottom right corner using the tip of my bone folder -simply tracing along the the border of the underlying patterned paper added the tiny bit of definition that was missing.

The inside sentiment was stamped in gray ink and kept simple with a tiny piece of left over paper adhered along the bottom.

Until later,

Masculine: With Sympathy

Today's card was inspired by just the sketch @ Fusion Card Challenges and will be entered @ Just For Fun Rubber Stamps "For the Guys", @ Crafty Purple Frog for "Make it Manly", @ Connie Can Crop for "It's a Guy thing", and @ Glitter and Sparkle Challenge for "Father's Day/Masculine". Sadly, this card will be sent to my son-in-law because his grandmother died this past weekend after suffering from dementia for many years. I hope I am able to share some comfort with both he and my daughter during this difficult moment in time.

 The first step in making this fairly simple card was to use a Prima Marketing/Finnabair stencil on the white, A2 side folding card front with Antique Linen Distress Ink and the distress tool. Frog Tape is my new best friend when it comes to using stencils, because it removes so easily!

Next up, I trimmed the brown patterned paper with my CM circle cutting tool set to mimic the card sketch.

Using a sympathy stamp set from Close To My Heart, I stamped in Versamark ink and heat embossed with Platinum powder. 

Before adhering the brown paper to the card front with foam pop dots for dimension, I sanded the edges just a tiny bit for a rustic, antiqued look, as you can see in the close-up shot below.

To tone down the stencil and soften the card front, I layered a piece of vellum between the white card base and the brown patterned layer and tied a knot with gold trim I wrapped around the spine of the card.

For the inside, I put to good use the scraps from the front and stamped a sentiment in Momento Rich Cocoa ink. This card is now all ready to go out in the mail tomorrow morning.

Until next time,