I dread making sympathy cards, but they are a necessary message to send. Our friend Susan West passed away this week, and we want to let the family know that we are thinking of them. I did have the dogwood flower stamped and colored with Copic markers and layered on diecut Nestabilities, so assembling the card was not too difficult. The stamp is from JustRite. Their flower stamps are perfect for any occasion. The embossed strip was done with a Cuttlebug embossing folder on Colorcore cardstock and then sanded to bring out the design. Background designer paper is from BoBunny,the word stamp from Hero Arts, and the decorative swirls from Spellbinders tag dies. Now I’m going to bake something to take along with the card and offer my condolences. A good idea would be to make up several of these cards ahead of time to have on hand, but I just can’t seem to do it. If you need the products, they are all available at our on-line store.
Sympathy Card
When I saw the tutorial on SplitCoast Stampers this week it brought back many memories. They are featuring pleated paper. Several years ago we took Margaret to a trade show where I signed her up for a class called “Pretty Pleated Paper”. After the class she came to my door in tears and wanted to go home. It was so tedious that she never finished her samples. Plus we had to get someone else to teach the class. While the pleats do give a special look to scrapbook pages or cards, it can be unbearable if you have to score and fold using a stylus and ruler. With the Scor-pal now available, projects like these can be completed in minutes. This card uses our own quality cardstock, colorcore paper with embossed Swiss dots, and a dogwood stamp from JustRite. The pleats were made on the Scor-pal and secured with Scor-tape. All these products are available at our on-line store. To see the tutorial look at www.splitcoaststampers.com.
Pretty Pleated Card
It’s really easy to add dimension to your papercraft projects whether you make cards , scrapbooks, home decor, or altered art. On the first card I used corrugated Colorcore cardstock. When I sanded it, the core color showed through. I need a grad card for a gal who has been a customer since she was a young child. I added ribbons and cap in her school colors (blue and gold). The stamps are Hero Arts and PSX. The Fiskar corrugator worked well for the texturing.
On the fathers day card the texture is net Maruyama paper. You could also use Magic Mesh. Just be careful when adding something you can see through ( vellum is another example). You will always see the adhesive unless you can hide it as I did here with a designer paper strip. The birdhouse stamp is from JustRite and was colored with Copic markers. The layers were cut with Nestabilities. Words are from Inkadinkado. The bow is wraphia (fake raffia). All cardstock is our own quality cardstock.
The Future Belongs To Those Who Believe
Fathers Day Bird Houses Card
Our new designer, Sonya Sheaffer came up with this adorable 3″x3″ card. It would also make a great placecard for Thanksgiving dinner. Just print each person’s name instead of a Halloween greeting on a sticky label. The technique uses dye-based reinkers. After stamping the pumpkin and embossing on coated paper, spray with a fine mist of water. Use a water brush to add drops of re-inker to the wet image and let the colors blend together. Dry well before cutting out and adding to card. When you cut, be careful to leave an edge around the embossing. Don’t cut through it, or it flakes off. The background looks like worn fabric, but in fact is a piece of color core cardstock that has been torn and sanded. A tiny piece of knotted ribbon completes the look. What a great gift card for a fruit basket or house gift over the holidays. Make one at our “Try Me Table” as a FREE project Sept28 through Oct 3. Your family and friends are going to love this one!
Happy Halloween
Pumpkin Stamp: Hero Arts
Words: computer generated
Reinkers: Marvy
Color Core Paper: Core’dinations
Water Brush: Aqua-flo from Hero Arts
Embossing Powder: Ranger
Other Cardstock: Paper Cut
Ribbon: May Arts
