Two Sympathy Cards

A while back, I posted this card and this card that I'd made for a girl named Katy who was waiting for a second heart transplant. Sadly, I found out the other night that she had lost her battle. So I made a couple of sympathy cards for her family.

My first card was inspired by one Jennifer McGuire did for Day 9 of Online Card Classes' "Stretch Your Stamps 2" class. The focus for her card was floral building stamps. I used this one by WPlus9, the same as she used.

I masked off 1/2" on the left side of the card with painters tape, and stamped a subtle background using Hero Arts' "Looped Flower" stamp and Spun Sugar Distress ink. Next, I stamped the flowers and leaves using Memento inks in Angel Pink, Rose Bud, Lilac Posies, Pear Tart, and Bamboo Leaves, adding Cantaloupe for the flower centers. I got the 2-tone shading on the leaves and flowers by stamping first in the lighter color, then re-inking the stamp with the darker shade. I wiped away the color from the edges of the stamp, then stamped over the original image. Another technique Jennifer taught in her lesson.

After I'd finished all my stamping, I removed the masking, and replaced it on the other side of the 1/2" line, to cover my stamping. Then I placed another piece of painters tape 1/8" away, and smooshed Versamark ink in that space. I sprinkled Ranger Silver embossing powder over that, and heat embossed it. I did the same for the wide stripe, just covering my first embossing with painters tape.

I used a digital stamp from Doodle Pantry for my greeting, printing it directly on the card front. As a final touch, I added two pieces of 1/8" wide pink ribbon to the upper right corner.

My second card is a CASE of one Laura Bassen did for Day 11 of "Stretch Your Stamps 2." I used one of the images from this stamp set to stamp the rows on the upper part, in Memento New Sprout, Pear Tart, Bamboo Leaves, Summer Sky, and Danube Blue inks. I centered the bottom-most graphic, and went out and up from there.

For the greeting, I used another digital stamp from the same Doodle Pantry set. I printed it on the bottom right corner of the card front panel. Then, after cutting between the top and bottom sections, I trimmed off another 3/16" from above the greeting. I applied foam tape behind both sections, and mounted them to an A2 card base, with a slight gap in between them. I added some faux "pearls" with a silver Viva Paper Pen and Royal Blue Liquid Pearls, and the card was done. I only hope they will bring some comfort to Katy's family in this most difficult time.

I'm entering both cards in Simon Says Stamp's Monday "Anything Goes" challenge.