SYMPATHY SUNDAY - Sort Of...

 Good afternoon!

I apologize for being late but I did something today I've not done in weeks. I sat and enjoyed online coffee/ video time with my sister. We are the only remaining siblings. We only live three hours apart but the internet is wonderful. We are able to chat on-line using Trillian while enjoying coffee, breakfast and sharing videos - usuing gardening, cooking or crafting. 

I altered that time with popping up and doing some household cleaning while I can have all the doors and windows open for the first time this season. We're to have heavy storms later this afternoon so I'm multi-tasking.

One thing that irritates me with Stampin' Up! is that they won't just give us a good all-occasion stamp set and leave it alone so that we always have a go-to set for sympathy cards... real sympathy sentiments. Not thinking of you, you're on my mind, etc... but true sympathy wording. We've had them in the past but they are forever taking them away. Sorry, but I'm not going to keep buying sets when I have perfectly good ones that will work. 

I chose not to stamp any sentiment on the front but the inside leaves plenty of space to write a personal note.

So here I am trying to showcase a stamp set that is current so y'all can use it to. I chose Daffodil Daydream from the January-June 2022 catalog. The stamp set is carrying over into our 2022-2023 catalog but not as a bundle. If you like this set, now is the time to order it while you can get the stamp/ dies as a bundle for 10% off. I'm linking the bundle in the shopping list below.

The designer series paper is Hand Penned - also from the January-June2022 catalog. I love this paper and am so glad I ordered a couple of extra packs. The paper is sold out BUT, you can substitute the Hand-Penned Memories & More card pack. I'll link it in the shopping list

Here's the card I came up with:

I'm still working on the shadow thing. I had 2 daylight lamps shining on the card from either side. Hmm suggestions appreciated! 

I started with this sketch:

I used a Daffodil Delight card base, layered with a 4" x 5-1/4" piece of Hand Penned (#1). #2 is a piece of Hand-Penned floral 2-1/4? x 4-1/2". Adhere #1 to the card base ,then add #2. #3 is 1-4/4" x 4" layered as shown in the picture.

#4 is a piece of Basic White cut 1-3/4" x 3-3/4". I stamped the single daffodil from Daffodil Daydreams in Memento Tuxedo Black. After several trial and error, I finally decided to use Stampin' Blends in Daffodil Delight and Shaded Spruce. 

Once I figured out kinks, the card went together pretty quick. I'd already figured the dimensions from having used the sketch before. That helped. 

Shopping List:

Daffodil Delight cardstock

Basic White cardstock

Hand Penned Memories & More card pack

Daffodil Daydream Bundle

Stampin' Blends -

     Daffodil Delight

     Shaded Spruce 

Memento Tuxedo Black

Stampin' Blocks

     H 

      I

Tombo Mono Liquid glue

I'll be back tomorrow with a Make It- Mail It Monday and video link when we take a look inside of the new Paper Pumpkin Box! I hope you'll join me.

Creative Blessings!

~ Kelly

SYMPATHY SUNDAY - Coming in Late

 Hey everyone!

I'm coming in so late that my first thought was to just skip the Sympathy Sunday but I'm trying to get back on track and no better time than the present.

I'll explain more about what I did for World Cardmaking Day tomorrow but this is one of the cards I made.  A junk journal friend of mine's stepdad passed away a couple of weeks ago and she has been in FL until just a day or two ago. I wanted to get a card popped in the mail to her.

I used the dsp from the Harvest Meadow DSP from the Mini Catalog. The sentiment and label are from the coordinating Nature's Harvest Bundle. I matted the DSP with Basic Black and added the Matte Black Gems.

I am supposed to get a challenge card for my upline on Wednesday. I think I'm going to get it done and will post next Tuesday (10/12).  So much to do before I leave on Thursday.  Finalizing my conference presentation and finding the house before Bob gets home Wed. evening are kind of my priorities at the moment. 

I hope you'll stop back by tomorrow to see a few more of the World Cardmaking Day creations. I'll be showing them Tomorrow and on Wednesday for What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday.

Creative Blessings

~Kelly

COLOR CHALLENGE - Back to Basics

 Good morning, crafty friends!

It's Color Challenge Tuesday at SplitcoastStampers. Today, LeAnn Skinner asked us to go back to basics with the following colors:

For dessert, we could add our favorite color. I chose Stampin' Up! Gorgeous Grape.

My stamp set came from the August 2019 issue of Cardmaking & Papercrafts called Summer Meadow

I subscribe to this magazine from the UK specifically for the monthly freebies. Most of their card designs are square but the stamps, dies and papers are made specifically for the magazine, making them a unique addition to my collection.

I have a dear friend who's brother-in-law passed away last week. This was especially hard for Linnie as he died of the same thing her husband dealt with prior to his passing a few years ago.  Here's the card I made for Linnie:

I began with a Basic Black cardbase. From there I stamped the background of fairy clocks (dandelion seeds) in Basic Gray. I added the stamped oval frame in Gorgeous Grape then the sentiment in Tuxedo Memento Black. The black satin ribbon is from my stash.

Here's the Color Challenge thread for this week if you'd like to play along! 

Want to see what others have done for this challenge? Go HERE

I'll be back tomorrow for What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday (WOYWW). I warn you.. .it's a mess. LOL

Creative Blessings

~ Kelly

SYMPATHY FOR JULIE

Since I've missed the Teapot Tuesday, I thought this was a good time to share a Sympathy card.

dearjuliejulie, the woman who orchestrates the junk journal challenges I've been playing in, had to say goodbye to her mom last weekend. While she knew this was coming, losing someone isn't easy. I put this card together for Julie this morning..

Julie loves working with lace so I wanted to make sure to include some on her card.

I used the retired SU Gift of Love for the floral and the sentiment is from Love and Sympathy (retired)

The stamped image is matted on Lost Lagoon cardstock with Lost Lagoon ribbon accent. I used Stampin' Blends to color the flowers in Daffodil Delight and stamped the leaves in Sage Shadow (man, I miss that color!)  I added small pearls.. 1 in the center of the largest flower, one in the 'O' in love then three on the lace.

I'll have WOYWW tomorrow so pop back by to see the creative disaster.
 Thank you for stopping by!

SYMPATHY SUNDAY

If you've popped in within the past hour, you may have noticed only a partial post. I was in the middle of one over at my Stampin' UP! site and realized I needed to put a portion of that info on this blog instead. So here we go!

Beginning this week, I will use one Sunday per month to focus on Sympathy cards. While we don't like to need them, as my 'old soul' granddaughter will tell you, it's part of the circle of life.

NOTE: To see the first two cards in this set, please go to my Stampin' UP! blog HERE
Sadly, this past week I needed four of them. They were all in regards to the same person but because the kids no longer live at home, I wanted to send one to each of them as well as his wife.
Ron Booth was a character. We didn't always get along but when it came to my caring for his children, he knew I was the best. One time when the youngest decided to run away from home (she was 6), he called me. Last words she uttered as she stormed out the door - "I'm going to my Kelly. She loves me."  You see, these kids were family. We loved all three equally but held a special bond with one.

We practically raised the youngest. She'd been in my daycare since the age of 7 weeks... and most weekends, never went home. She'd fuss and whine about going home each night but when Friday rolled around, she somehow managed to stay the weekend. When Bob asked her what she wanted for her 5th birthday, she told him she wanted her own room. She got one, of sorts. One Halloween, she was dressed as a bride. I think she was 5 or 6. When they stopped by the house to show us their costumes, Bob took a play ring I had in the children's dress-up corner, knelt and put it on her finger.  Later, in the second grade, the kids each got to be Student of the Week. They were to bring pictures to display on the classroom door, depicting their life. The 'proposal' picture was smack dab in the center of the grouping. 

She has always been our Peaches.... but more importantly, she was her daddy's 'Pooh Bear'. So this first card is for my Peaches.

I was inspired by THIS  Pin from OCDcardLady on her etsy shop.

I used a retired set from Stampin' UP! called Love and Sympathy.

The DSP is from a suite retiring the end of May called Petal Garden:

Petal Garden Designer Series Paper Stack

144168    Price: $10.00 RECIPE: Card base - Sweet Sugar Plum Background Mat - Petal Garden Image Mat - Very Vanilla Flower stamped in Rich Razzleberry and Old Olive Sentiment stamped in Versa Mark then embossed in Gold. Sentiment mat punched from Very Vanilla and Sweet Sugar Plum with the: Everyday Label Punch 144668   Price: $18.00 To make the mat base, cut the sweet sugar plum label in 1/2 then position each piece just beyond the sentiment mat. I then added dimensionals.  The bow is from my ribbon stash and the pearls are retired SU. Card number two is for Ron's oldest daughter, Jessica. I loved the peach tones from Petal Garden for one of the sweetest young women I know on the planet. She's gone from short of despising her youngest sister when Kassie was small to now sharing a house with her. They do sister vacations and all kinds of things together - best friends.  The only time I babysat Jessica (as well as their brother Vinnie) was when the kids were sick. I would keep them through the whole 'sickness' phase so Josie didn't have to miss work. Kassie especially always wanted me to take care of her. The day she had her tonsils out, she asked her mom if they could stop and pick me up so I could be there, too. Yep.. they are my extended family for sure. While Kassie was my mini-me, Jessica always wanted to come to my house to craft. She loved coming in the door with an idea, knowing my knowledge and craft room stash would see her project to completion. So this is the card I made for Jessica: RECIPE: Card Base - Calypso Coral Background - Petal Garden Floral Mat - Pear Pizzazz - 3-1/8" x 4-1/8" Floral - Whisper White - 4" x 3" Ribbon - Pear Pizzazz Pearls - retired SU Sentiment punched from Pear Pizzazz and Whisper White using the decorative label punch (retired SU) Floral Image stamped in Calypso Coral, Pear Pizzazz and Memento Black - 2 step stamping method Sentiment stamped in VersaMark then heat embossed with gold.  My soul aches for this family's loss and wish I could be there for them, but these cards will let them know they are in our hearts and our prayers.  There will be a celebration of life for Ron in May and I'm hoping to travel up to be with them.  Creative Blessings!

COLOR CHALLENGE - January

With snow swirling outside - finally - I thought I'd pull out some blues and whites for this challenge.

I'm trying to get better at challenges this year so I'm starting out by linking up with Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenge. This week is Anything Goes.

Sadly, I needed a sympathy card this week for a sweet lady and the colors lent themselves to the need.

I chose SU colors Wisteria Wonder, Night of Navy and Marina Mist. The Marina Mist is one of the colors in a retired SU DSP - Botanical Gazette. I thought the birds went well with the new set from SU - Beautiful Peacock.

I used Wisteria Wonder base then began the layering with the other two colors. My favorite MS punch, the lace, brought a bit of femininity to the card. The peacock feathers are stamped in Marina Mist and the Peacock in Night of Navy on Whisper White. The trick to working with this set is to use two high contrasting colors against one another. I added Basic Rhinestones in clear to accent the feathers.  The sentiment inside and out is from Thoughts & Prayers. The white and navy circles are cut from the Stitched Framelits SU set. 

That's mine.. let's see yours! Just add the link to your blog post (not your blog URL but the url to the actual blog post) and Mr. Linky will add you to the list so we may stop by to check out your creation!

RULES:

There aren't any rules. You may use any company product you like. My only request is if you use a stamp or something special, link to the company so we may add to our stash, too :-D

KEYWORD: KCC18A 

And remember to grab the Color Challenge button on my sidebar to link your followers here. I'd love to have them playing along!

CREATIVE CARD CHICKS - October

There are times when I actually surprise myself. This is one of those times.

I posted a couple of months back that I belonged to a card swap group on Splitcoast Stampers. Until this month, I've not posted on time - or at all with the exception of one month until now.
1) I was determined to get my cards posted on time
2) this kit spoke to me.

StampinSpooky was our hostess this month. She used mostly SU products, including DSP from the Venetian Romance paper pack (SU - 2013-2014).
Colors that coordinated with the DSP:
Powder Pink
Tangerine Tango
Soft Suede
Island Indigo

The images are from Postage Due (SU)

I added:
Sage Shadow
Mint Macaron
Decorative Label Punch
Bitty Butterfly Punch
Love N Sympathy (stamp)
Thoughts N Prayers (stamp)
Heartfelt Sympathy (stamp)
Just Add Text (stamp)
Pearls

Next month, I'll try to remember to photograph the kit. In the mean time, here are the three cards I came up with:

The large image, the postage stamp and the dsp strip were from the kit. I added Island Indigo as a base and a mat then punched the lace border in white.

Again, the large image, the postage stamp and this time, the scallop was included in the kit.

I used a leftover piece of the DSP to inspire a sympathy card I'll be needing in the coming days:

I used Mint Macaron to stamp the images and for one of the butterflies. 

As I type this, I have been informed that Mike has passed and now Chrissy is left to build a new life without him. Chrissy is a strong southern belle but I think in cases as this, strength only goes so far. My heart aches for her and I hope the card brings her some comfort.

FRIDAY FREEBIE - Sympathy Card

I wish the need for Sympathy cards were not a part of life... but then there would be no life to celebrate.

The mother of one of the ladies in a writing group I belong to passed away a couple of weeks ago. The card I sent was inspired by a card designed by Lisa Ku on SCS. I loved the soft green tone she used. Very serene. This is what my card came together as:

Sorry. I just realized I hadn't cropped this picture. Also apologize for the bit of glare. I took these late at night so I could get them scheduled. I'm as tired of not having anything on the blog as you are of not seeing something new :-D

I used Whisper White and Mint Macaron from SU. The ribbon is from my stash (non-SU) 

I used Thoughts and Prayers from SU. I did a ghost stamp of the image first, then re-inked and stamped directly to the card in a slightly different spot for the layered effect. 

For the 3 accent flowers, I punched those out of Mint Macaron using the tree builder punch then brushed the flowers with stickles and let them dry. Took a matter of seconds. After I adhered them to the card with glue dots, I added the medium SU pearls. 

I used a sentiment from Love & Sympathy on the inside. 

What is your go-to stamp set or color choice when you need to send condolences? I'd love to know.

Creative Blessings!

FRIDAY FREEBIE - Sympathy Card

I had cause to make not one but two sympathy cards last week. A lady who was my very first daycare child in IL - her grandfather passed away. I'd met him a few times. Very nice man. And his personality flowed down through his family.  I knew I wanted their card to be extra special. I found THIS one on Pinterest. The card can also be found on Stef Perry's blog - Perry Papercrafts

Here's my card:

I chose SU Crumb Cake as my base and added Very Vanilla and Night of Navy. The stamps were from SU sets - Thoughts and Prayers, Love and Sympathy.

The paper is from an old SU mini slab - Print Poetry. Though you can't see it well in the photo I embossed the front of the base with the wood grain EB folder from Paper Studios. The ribbon is from SU Very Vanilla Stitched Satin. I also used the new Stitched Framelits die - Ovals from SU.  I love the softness the Very Vanilla provided.

I'll have the other sympathy card for you next Friday.
Creative Blessings!

NEEDLE & THREAD THURSDAY - Sympathy

I bet you are wondering why I'm showing a card on Needle & Thread Thursday... a card with not a stitch on it anywhere.

A writer friend of mine is not a card maker but she enjoys crocheting and quilting. We've been friends on-line for almost twenty years but never met in person.  When her mom passed away in late January, I knew I needed to make her a card (though I've missed several sympathy cards the past few months).

I used the Love & Sympathy set from Stampin' Up.
After coloring the image with LePlume markers, I spritzed the stamp with water before stamping onto the cardstock. I used Recollections and GP white cardstock with Pale Plum ink.

WOYWW #225

Okay, first off, is it coincidence that WOYWW #225 is on The 25th? I think not. If you have no clue what I'm talking about, head on over to Julia Dunnit's blog for a long list of blogs we spend hours hopping to. Then for further explanation, go to her EXPLANATION page.

I'm squeaking this in on Tuesday night while I'm tweeting TheVoice for work. I'm trying not to work too  much while my MIL is visiting. Once I get started I forget to stop. LOL

Next on the list is the big REVEAL. Back on #223 I told everyone about the Surprise gifties I was making for members of our Paper Blogger Reunited (PBR) group. Five of our members were meeting up at ScrapFest in Mall of America. I couldn't go but I sent pressies for the other girls via member Maggie. So what did I send?

I took one of those $1 20-pic plastic photo albums then created the cover in PrintShop. I used a glitter mat from DCWV Glitter Pad. They'll have a brag album to remember their trip and pics of each of our members who made the trip.

Finally... my desk for this week. I have no place upstairs to work... aka the music promo/ writing stuff I do every day. The card table I might use is being used for our dining room table while Bob's mom and her husband visit for a couple more days. So everything is on my stamp table. 

You'll see a couple of things handy. I'm putting together a couple of Sympathy cards for her and have some images to stamp. Then it's back to working on my books. The first chapter of my Western Historical Romance, Jayson's Range, took 2nd in competition last weekend so I'm hoping to finish that novel and start putting it out the door soon. 

I should have a scrap project of sorts on the desk next week and back to regular blogging again soon.

Creative Blessings!

Magazine Monday - on Tuesday

Good morning friends.

I'm sorry I didn't get this posted yesterday. I spent the entire day in a funk. I thought it was because I'd gone back to bed at 5 a.m. and not gotten back up til 10. Going back to bed in the mornings will give me that 'drugged' feeling so I try not to do it. I found out later, it was probably had more to do with a soul visit from a dear friend.

A couple months ago I posted an eagle 'get well' card that I'd made for my friend, Wally Bailey. I've known Wally, his wife Sonja and their families (both immediate and extended) for over 20 years. Yesterday we all had to say goodbye to the husband, father, grandfather, our friend. It's a difficult time and my heart aches for them. The only thing I know to do from this distance is to offer up prayers of healing and to pour my feelings into my art.

We had been told on Friday it was about making Wally comfortable. So the first card I made yesterday morning was a sympathy card I knew I'd need. I just didn't realize how soon.

The card was inspired by the March Card Kit Swap Soni and I both belong to on Splitcoaststampers. The Kit Hostess for March 2011 was Dody and she sent a great envelope of things to play with. I came up with 7 cards mixing and matching Dody's items with my own images and paper scraps.

The design idea came from the April 2003 issue of Crafts n Things Magazine and artist Melanie Douthit. She is a talented freelance artist who morphed into using scrapbook supplies in her art. I hope you'll take a few moments to click on her name - linked to her blog.

Here is the sketch from the inspiration:

And here's what I came up with from Dody's kit. This is the only card of the seven I didn't add anything to except Wild Wasabi card stock to accent the yellow and the scalloped circle Dody included.

I'm going to miss Wally. All of us who knew him, will. But it seems appropriate the items to make this card came from within Soni's circle of card artists to send her comfort and love.

Magazine Monday!

Wow!

It felt really good to get back into the Studio this morning and work on a project. It didn’t take long to clear the desk and pull open a magazine I’d been looking at last week.

Isn’t it funny how you start with something and wind up totally different from where you began? For this week I went to the October 2009 issue of Scrap and Stamp magazine.

They did a 2-page feature of former Our Daily Bread Designs designer, Kelley Holland. First off, her work is BEAUTIFUL! Layers, texture, well-coordinated colors. Kelley blends everything into a work of art. If you’d like to see an example of Kelley’s work, you can check out her GALLERY at Our Daily Bread Designs.

By the pictures in the magazine spread, it looked as if all of her samples were square cards. I don’t work with square cards mostly because I don’t want to have to buy/ make square envelopes. So I went with the traditional rectangle.

A monochormatic card in browns and caramels first caught my eye. There were 4 layered tiles in the corner positions with a larger centered tile for the focal image. I thought cool! I’ll do it in caramels and red and use a Pooh bear image for the Ronald McDonald house RAK. I pulled my Pooh Bear image and got ready to pull cardstock.

Oh wait! (my mind has caught a delicate one on the other page) This one is really pretty. Elegant and simple. Base white, matted pink and then a matted white that had been run through the CB dotted swiss and edged with the MS Lace punch. Kelley then used a scalloped oval in the Spellbinder in pink to mat a slightly smaller duplicate in white. She stamped a sentiment on the white oval and added a shaded pink grograin ribbon about 1.5” down from the top of the card. The hinge of the card was at the top.

Although she used a religious sentiment I thought it would make a perfect baby card. But while pulling images, I had yet another epiphany. One of the gals in our S2S thread at Splitcoaststampers put out a challenge earlier in the year to make a batch of Sympathy cards. With that in my head, I was off.

I liked the oval scalloped mat. I don’t own any Spellbinders but I do have Lacey Labels for the Cricut . This is what I came up with:

I used Very Vanilla and Almost Amethyst (retired SU) CS from Stampin’ Up . For my image, I selected Garden Collage (retired SU). Everything was edged and stamped in Vintage Violet.

Because the card front was larger than the CB folder, I only embossed the bottom 4” and left the remainder plain. Since I used the MS lace punch, I decided against ribbon. I thought about the ribbon, but I liked the scalloped edge of the MS punch playing off the scallop of the mat. What do you think?

Not where I started, but I like how it evolved into something that might bring comfort to someone when they need it.

Creative Blessings

Kelly