Sympathy and Apology Cards

Happy Sunday Everyone!

The Hero Arts ClearDesign Everyday Sayings stamp set features a large scope of phrases. I challenged myself this weekend and tried to incorporate each of those phrases into one or more cards. Turns out the challenge was easy for me. The hard part will be spreading those cards out over my blog posts for a week or longer as I am not good at keeping secrets when I am excited about something. The good news is I have already photographed all of the cards and edited my photographs.

I feel that sympathy cards don’t need to be dark and dreary. A touch of color may be just what it takes to brighten someone’s day. I remember when our mother passed away my sister Paula insisted upon wearing a bright outfit to the funeral because our mother had bought it for her and had loved the colors in it. Sometimes something that is beautiful and elegant makes us cry. Sometimes crying helps us cope with a loss.

The paper from SEI’s chocolat stack has just the elegance that I wanted for my sympathy cards. If you study these first 2 cards you will notice that I played around with the same blueprint when I created them. I’ve decided that I prefer the one that has the patterned paper at the top, the ribbon/bow in the center and the solid paper at the bottom. I think the patterned paper at the top helps lead your eye to the message at the bottom of the card. The card with the solid paper at the top feels bottom heavy to me. I added pearls to both of the cards. Although I seldom wear mine I love pearls. When I saw my mother wearing her pearls I always thought she looked very dressed up and beautiful and that’s how I wanted my sympathy cards to look

I’m happy with his card. I wasn’t sure where I wanted to place the sentiment and had accidentally glued my patterned paper onto the blank card before I made that decision. At that point rather then run the risk of stamping a sentiment that wasn’t clear and crisp directly onto my card I stamped it onto a coordinating strip of paper and added it to my card. The lettering on many of the stamps in this set is tiny and doesn’t require much ink so I like to practice with each of those stamps before I use them on my cards. Both of the papers I used on this card are also from SEI's chocolat stack.




I love this card. I think it looks elegant and tasteful. I used my corner rounder punch on the layering paper and on the card. I used a Martha Stewart butterfly punch to create the butterfly embellishment. I fashioned some antennae for the butterfly out of thin jewelry wire. I don’t think they show up in the photograph. Both of the papers I used on this card are from SEI's chocolat stack.

The phrase "I’m sorry" is included in the Hero Arts Everyday Sayings stamp set. I had to really think about how I would use this stamp because I feel that no matter how hard it might be "I’m sorry" and all life changing messages should be delivered face to face. I actually fell into a great article the other night called "How to Apologize". I highly recommend that everyone take the time to read that article because at one time or another each of us has needed/will need to apologize to someone. Maybe an "I’m sorry" card could be the place to write out an apology which could be handed to someone as you apologize face to face.

I used the "Posey Penguin" from Memory Box stamps on this card. The paper is from SEI’s Poppy paper stack. The blank card is from

A Muse Artstamps. The card is smaller than most of the other cards I create, but I felt it worked perfectly for the card I wanted.

This card has a "Sun Days" stamp from Penny Black stamped on it. I added some gems to add a little sparkle to the card. The butterfly was punched from an EK Success small butterfly punch.

I’ll be back in a day or two to share some of the other cards I have created this weekend.
Have a nice night!
Carol

Happy Friday!

Good Morning Everyone!

I often purchase stamps that have specific messages such as "Happy Birthday", "Congratulations" or "Get Well", but the stamps I want to share with you today are just for fun. I’ve learned that humor works as well in cards as it does in life. We smile, we laugh, sometimes we nod our heads in agreement when we read a humorous card or one that "plays with words".

I order many of my stamps from http://www.addictedtorubberstamps.com/ which is one of my favorite sources for stamps. I think their search engine is fantastic. Sometimes I get an idea for a card and think I’d like a stamp for it so I search on their web site and more often than not I find exactly what I wanted. They ship quickly and protect the stamps by placing them on corrugated cardboard and shrink wrapping them. The stamps arrive with a couple of pieces of hard candy and a sample sheet of scrapbook paper. If you are a member of their "Red Carpet Club" your order gets priority shipping and arrives with a surprise in it. Sometimes the surprise is a stamp or some ink. I ordered all of the stamps that I am writing about in today’s blog through addictedtorubberstamps.

First up, "I like you better than flies!" This stamp is manufactured by Penny Black and is called "better than flies!" "Inky the Frog" is manufactured by Inkadinkado. I didn’t have any "flies" handy, so I substituted some dragonfly gems from Favorite Findings. I figured the frogs wouldn’t mind. I used my Twinkling H20s to paint my frogs

Next up, "Life’s a beach" from A Country Welcome stamps. I’ve had that stamp for a while, but hadn’t used it recently. I picked up some Jolee’s "Beach Bikini" dimensional stickers in the clearance section of Michaels the other day, and thought they’d work well with my stamp. I threaded the clothesline onto the "pebbles" paper before I attached it to the card. The clothespins are just strips of adhesive labels. I know that there are mini clothespins, but decided that the other embellishments added enough dimension to the card.

Now that I am creating more and more cards when I am stamping an image, I stamp extras, emboss them, and set them aside so I can "grab" one when I need it. I have extra images of "Life’s a Beach" so I decided to use one for the next card.

My July/August 2010 issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine arrived in the mail the other day. I love the sandcastle idea that is shown on pages 27 and 28 of that issue. You can print out the template for free on the Creating Keepsakes website. The sandcastle is created from sandpaper. I’ve used sandpaper on other cards so I store some sheets of it with my scrapbook paper. The different grades of paper have different shades and textures. You can pick up packages of sandpaper at the dollar stores. There will be several grades of paper in each package. To create the sand on the beach just tear strips of sandpaper. Don’t try to tear it straight...just tear it!

I used Cloud9Design rub ons on my card. I was amazed that they stuck so easily to the sandpaper. I backed some scraps of red and blue paper with Scor-Pal tape and then cut out the flags for the castle. The backing for the tape peeled off easily and then I attached the flags to the card.
And that’s it for today! Have a great day!
Carol