Sending Blessings

Online Card Classes' "Stretch Your Dies" class has been going on this week. There's still another week to participate in the "live" class, and even after that, it will be available as a self-paced (not interactive) class. I highly recommend it for learning tips, tricks, & techniques to get more out of your dies!

I created this card for a nun who helped take care of my mom when she was in the hospital a couple of years ago. We recently found out the nun's mother died. So my mom asked me to make a sympathy card for her. My inspiration for the design came from Debby Hughes' lesson in Day 1 of class, on inlaid die cutting. She put a spin on the technique, by having the inlaid die cut cross between 2 patterned papers.

I decided to use the "blessings" from Simon Says Stamp "Christmas Blessings" dies. After choosing my patterned papers (floral from Fancy Pants' "Burlap & Bouquets" and the tan one from my scrap stash), I cut them to size, and adhered them to a piece of dark green cardstock cut to 4.25x5.5". This was different than Debby's technique, but I found it produced better results for me. (I used the same color cardstock for the die cut as for the backing, so I wouldn't have another color showing through any little gaps in the die cut inlay. As it turned out, this was unnecessary, but I didn't realize that at the time.)

After positioning my die where I wanted it on the panel, I ran it through my die cutting machine. I also die cut it from another piece of the dark green cardstock. I cut yet another piece of green, and ran it through my Xyron Sticker Maker to apply adhesive to one side. I stuck that to the back side of the panel, adhesive side up. Then I adhered my die cut word in the negative space, and placed all the little background pieces I'd cut when I die cut into the panel.

The hard part out of the way, I stamped the first part of the greeting, using the "Sending" from Simon Says Stamp's "Sending Happy Thoughts" stamp set. I had test-stamped it on another scrap of the tan paper using various inks, and finally decided to heat emboss it with Ranger's Liquid Platinum embossing powder. It doesn't show up well in the photo, but it gives it a nice, warm shine.

In looking at the card at this point, I felt it was a little bit bare. I didn't want to dress it up too much, especially with 2 patterned papers in it, but it just looked like it needed something. So I took the little butterfly stamp from Hero Arts' "Floral" stamp set and stamped it nestled near the words with Hero Arts' Cup o' Joe mid-tone shadow ink. That seemed to be just the pop it needed, without going over the top.

Finally, I adhered the completed front to an A2 card base, and rounded the top right corner with my 1/2" Corner Chomper. I must admit, this is probably one of the most understated cards I've ever made, but I hope Sister likes it.