Two Sympathy Cards

Recently, 2 friends of ours had deaths in their respective families. So I made a sympathy card for each of them. I also used techniques I've learned in Online Card Classes' "Mask-erade" class.

Shari Carroll's "Layered Stamping" lesson on Day 3 of class inspired my first card. I began by stamping the 3 butterflies from Hero Arts' "Antique  Butterflies and Flowers" set (discontinued) on a piece of 140 lb. watercolor paper, using Ranger Archival Jet Black ink. I coated each butterfly with masking fluid, and let that dry. Once that had dried, I inked up the "Faded Text Background" stamp by Stampabilities in Ranger Archival Watering Can ink. I dabbed the ink off part of the stamp with a damp baby wipe, so I would have a blank space for my greeting, and stamped that on my panel, over the butterflies. Next, I took a stencil by Prima (name unknown), and pressed my Cracked Pistachio Distress ink over part of the back of that. I spritzed the ink with water, and pressed it to my panel a couple of times, giving a soft pattern. I did the same with Peacock Feathers Distress ink, making sure to leave the lower right corner untouched.

After my panel was dry, I rubbed off the masking from the butterflies. Unfortunately, in doing so, some of the paper where the largest butterfly was peeled up a bit. So I ended up stamping that image onto another scrap of watercolor paper, again in Jet Black Archival ink, and fussy cutting it out. I "painted" around the edges with a black brush-tip marker, and mounted it over the butterfly I'd stamped on my panel with foam tape, covering up where the paper had torn. Problem solved!

I chose my greeting from Simon Says Stamp's "Sending Happy Thoughts" stamp set. I stamped it in Jet Black, and set my panel aside for the ink to dry thoroughly. For the mat, I inked the 2 long sides of a piece of 4.25x5.5" white cardstock with Hero Arts' "Granite" shadow ink, which I felt set the main panel off without being too "heavy." Finally, I adhered my watercolor piece to the inked cardstock, and mounted that to an A2 card base.

Kristina Werner's lesson on Day 2, "Masked Area for Greeting," was the basis for my second card. I die cut a mask from a sticky note with one of the "Labels Eighteen" dies by Spellbinders, & adhered that to a piece of Strathmore Mixed Media Paper. I taped my paper to my non-stick craft sheet, and taped the "Lace" stencil by Tim Holtz over it. I smooshed Distress inks in Cracked Pistachio, Evergreen Bough, and Peacock Feathers on my craft sheet, and mixed Liquitex Gloss Super Heavy Gel medium with each color. I spread the colored medium over my stencil, going from light to dark as I made my way down the panel, to create an ombre effect. When I had covered the stencil, I carefully lifted it, and peeled up the sticky note mask. I set my stenciled panel aside to dry for several hours.

When my panel had dried, I stamped the greeting. I used Versamark ink to stamp the "sending" and one of the hearts from the "Sending Happy Thoughts" set, and heat embossed them with Ranger Liquid Platinum embossing powder. I stamped the "prayers & love," from the same stamp set, in Versafine Onyx Black ink, since I wanted as crisp an impression as possible. I rounded the corners of that panel with my 1/2" Corner Chomper, and matted it with black, rounding those corners as well.

For the outside mat, I used my 3 Distress ink colors, and blended them on a piece of white cardstock, again creating an ombre effect. I adhered that to my A2 card base, rounded the corners, and mounted my main panel on top.

I'm entering my first card in a2z Scrapbooking's June Challenge: "New Beginning." (new technique)