Simple Sympathy Cards

Happy Tuesday!  We're a bit under the weather at my house right now (in the midst of Thanksgiving preparations...how unfair is that?!) so I'm spending more time wiping noses and soothing unhappy children than I am crafting.  However, I needed to make a sympathy card this week, so I squeezed in a little stamping time while the kids were sleeping.

I am going to show you a few different versions of this clean and simple, quick sympathy card.  I'm using a stamp set you've seen me use before.  It's not my only sympathy set, but it's definitely my favorite. 

Here's my first card:

For this card, I started with a panel of Whisper White card stock and applied Memento Lulu Lavender using the "direct to paper" technique.  With this method, you apply your stamp pad directly to the paper.  I used a small dewdrop pad and I find this works better (for me) than using the larger pads.  To avoid getting ink lines from the edge of the pad (or depositing too much ink on the card edges) I started my ink pad off the panel (on the scratch paper underneath) and began swirling the ink on the scratch paper, then moved inward onto the card so the "impact" point was not on the card itself.  I sometimes use chalks or sponging to create this effect, but I think these Memento dewdrop pads work really well for this background.  After I achieved the depth of color I wanted, I used an old towel to rub off any excess ink.  I then stamped my image and sentiment in Elegant Eggplant, and attached the panel to an Elegant Eggplant card base.  This card took less than 5 minutes to make. 

I wanted to try other color options while building my supply of sympathy cards (I seem to need too many of these lately).  This time I used Memento New Sprout for the background, using the same technique as above.  I like the combination of Elegant Eggplant and New Sprout:

 

 

I'm also challenging myself to make more one-layer cards, so I tried making a card without the Elegant Eggplant card base.  I think this works nicely as another option:

You can easily use these techniques to make sympathy cards as well as cards for other occasions and with other stamp sets.  I love having go-to card ideas for those last-minute cards, and any card that can be made in 5 minutes or less is a winner in my book!

One tip: Although dye ink should be fast-drying, I had a few issues with Elegant Eggplant smudging this time (so there are a few card fronts in my recycle bin now!).  I'm not sure why it wasn't drying immediately this time, but a quick fix is to use your heat tool for a few seconds to set the ink before moving on to the next step. 

Thanks for visiting! 

Products Used:

Stamps: Close as a Memory (Stampin' Up!)

Ink: Memento Lulu Lavender and Memento New Sprout (Tsukineko);
Elegant Eggplant Classic Dye Ink (Stampin' Up!)

Paper: Whisper White and Elegant Eggplant card stock (Stampin' Up!)

Technique: Direct to Paper

Acrylic Block Collage, Take 2

I just couldn't stop playing with this fun technique this week!  This is a continuation of the technique I posted yesterday.  If you missed it, HERE is yesterday's post.  You can also see the original challenge and technique instuctions on Splitcoast Stampers HERE.

This time I wanted to use softer, more subtle colors, so I decided to use purples and pinks.  My first card is a very Clean and Simple sympathy card:

The background was created by inking my acrylic block with several shades of pink and purple, then spritzing it with water and stamping it on the white card stock. After the background dried, I inked a small heart stamp and stamped it randomly over the background. Then I stamped my flowers and sentiment. Quick and easy!

I have mixed feelings about this next card.  I used the same basic background as the card above, but this time I inked stem images all over the area. I like the effect but feel it might just be a little too "busy" with all those stems! 

This technique just has so many possibilities.  I still want to make a card with separate color blocks, so I need to add that one to my list.  But I have a couple of other challenges waiting on my craft desk, so I am off to work on those now!

Thanks for stopping by!

Products Used:

 

Paper: Whisper White card stock (Stampin' Up!)

Inks on background: Various shades of pink and purple markers and dye ink pads

Inks on sentiment and flowers: Elegant Eggplant (Stampin' Up!)

Sentiment and flower stamps: "Close as a Memory" (Stampin' Up!)

Tools: Acrylic block, water mister

Welcome!

Welcome to my brand-spankin'-new craft blog! Whether you're joining me in the wee hours of the night while I'm stamping or during the day while I'm chasing around my very busy kids, pull up a chair, grab of cup of coffee (or a shot of tequila...I won't judge!) and join me in my crafting adventures!

It's finally cooling off and providing some much-needed rain in my part of the world.  It was another late night for me as I tried to learn some new techniques. 

This is the card I created for this week's Ways to Use It challenge at Splitcoast Stampers.  If you're looking for a great online papercrafting community, you must check out Splitcoast Stampers!  It's a treasure trove of talented artists, inspirational gallery cards and very active user forums.  This week's challenge was to use markers in a new way.  They're not just for coloring, you know!  I chose to use two techniques on my card: Thumping and Misting.  These were both new techniques for me, and now that I've tried them I really want to work on perfecting them!  Here's my first card using these techniques:

I used a sunflower stamp from Mrs. O'Leary's.  I stamped on Ultrasmooth Vanilla cardstock (I don't think Stampin' Up! carries this anymore, but I believe it is similiar to Very Vanilla).  I inked the stamp first with Ancient Page ink in Saffron.  I then "thumped" it with several markers: Stampin' Up! Summer Sun, Pumpkin Pie and Garden Green markers, and Tombow Art marker #879 (brown).  The brown was a little dark so I smudged it with my finger to lighten it.  The green was a little too bright so I wiped some of the ink off with a cloth.  I huffed on the stamp to moisten the ink, then used my mini mister to mist water into the stamp (VERY lightly, holding the stamp about 8 inches away from the mister) and stamped the image.   I repeated this process several times to make a border.  I wrapped three pieces of brown fiber (Adornaments) around this piece and adhered it to a brown cardstock base.  I stamped "thank you" (Studio G/Hampton Arts) in Chocolate Chip Classic Ink (Stampin' Up!) on Ultrasmooth Vanilla, adhered that piece to another piece of brown cardstock and adhered it to the card using foam dimensionals.  Because this is a dark card base, I placed a liner of Ultrasmooth Vanilla on the inside of the card so I could write a message to the recipient. 

Now that I am a little more comfortable with the techniques I am looking forward to using them with other images.  I love the dimension the thumping technique provides, and the misting technique really softens the image.  I am sure you will see these techniques appearing on my blog again!

Thanks for stopping by!