Simply Soft Sympathy

Morning all.

Once again, I had the need for a couple of sympathy cards at work. One of them was for a very much beloved patient who was 101. She was a delightful lady and always dressed in purple, so it was not hard as to the palate for her card. i got my inspiration from this card on SCS. I also wanted to try out a new technique to me called "Marker Layering". There is a great tutorial for it here. These are the two cards I did.....

You can see how the colour is just a little magical......

Sadly, I had a wee oops on the blue card and started with the medium blue....doh!!! Here are the 2 together.....

Thanks for popping by. Hopefully there will be a bit of a break between sympathy cards next time.

Stuff used:

CS: (SU) Basic Black, Wisteria Wonder, Bashful Blue, Whisper White

Ink: (SU) Stazon, SWM's in Almost Amethyst, Wisteria Wonder, Elegant Eggplant, Pear Pizzaz, Old Olive, Bashful Blue, Pool Party, Marina Mist

Stamps: (SU) Simply Soft, Teeny Tiny Sentiments

Other bits: SU 2 tags die, Cuttlebug Swiss Dots Embossing folder, Dimensionals

Lynda xx

Vintage Sympathies

Morning all.

Sadly in my line of work (for those of you who don't know, I am a registered Nurse who works in a General Practice) we have patients who pass away. Some have been with the practice for many years. We not only look after the Mums and dads, but sometime their mums and dads too! I had occasion to need two cards.

The first I could not go past this simple and elegant card by Mercedes Weber here. It was for the wife of one of my "regulars" whose husband passed away. He was a real wordsmith and loved the English language. Here is my version of Mercedes' card.....

It is basically Baja with a smidge of Basic Grey. Perfect for a wife receiving the sad sentiment. The flourish from the stamp set gives it that girly feel.

The second card was for the family of a very elderly patient who was very strong of faith and classy to a "T"!! I got the inspiration for this card from Kirsty Brown here. Even though not initially a sympathy card, I thought it more than appropriate. Here is my version of Kirsty's stunning card.....

I loved all the small details in this card. The pale pink flower under the sentiment, the script writing under the flourish and the way the wee pink flowers were shaped.

Thanks for popping by. I hope the weather is warm and inviting where you are...sadly this is NOT the case in Sydney....bring on Spring....and quick!!!

Stuff used:

CS: (SU) Very Vanilla, Baja Breeze, Crumb Cake, Pink Pirouette, Bravo Burgandy

Ink: (SU) Basic Gray, Crumb Cake, Bravo Burgandy, Pink Pirouette

Stamps: (SU) Fresh Vintage (SAB '12), Elements of Style, Petite Pairs, Kaiser Clear Sympathy Sentiments, Kaszazz Scripted BGS

Other bits: SU Framelit Dies, SU Adorning Accents Embossing folders, SU Textured Impressions Embossing Set, Carla Craft CP1 Vinca A and Vinca B punch, Gold 1/2 pearls fm Hot Dollar

Lynda xx

In Memory Of.....

Hi all.....
Sadly last week I lost a dear friend who left behind a mammoth legacy. She died at the age of 84, survived by her 13 (she had 15 in all) children, 36 grandchildren and 4 great grand children. Her funeral was put together by herself prior to her passing (which was sooooooo her) and it was magical.

Over the years I had made her many things....mainly in tones of her favourite colour....blue. So it was only fitting that the card I gave to her family reflected that too. Here is her card.....

I struggled with the way I wanted to lay this out. I wanted the blue to pop and initially I had no matting....just the rose sitting on dimensionals....but is was very flat. The rose was coloured on Vanilla CS with blender pens....something I know I need a lot more practice at.

In the end, the matts won out...and I am thankful they did. I also found I had a lot more "space' to work with on a square as opposed to a rectangular card. The rose and sentiment were still popped up on dimensionals.

The sympathy sentiment is a clear KaiserCraft one. I struggle to get even ink coverage on these esp with SU ink. If anyone has any suggestions.....I would be grateful.

Thanks for popping by.

Stuff used:
CS: (SU) Very Vanilla, Not Quite Navy, Bashful Blue (butterfly) and Roman Print Square Card
Ink: (SU) Bashful Blue, Baja Breeze, Not Quite Navy, Pear Pizzaz, Old Olive (all used colouring the rose)
Stamps: Kaszzaz Rose, KaiserCraft Sympathy Sentiments
Other Bits: Blender Pens, Dimensionals, SU Beautiful Wings embosslit die, Rhinestones

Lynda xx

Small Comfort

Morning all.

It has been hard to know when to actually post this card. A girlfriend of mine (who I believe also reads this blog) sadly lost her husband towards the end of last year. We were all deeply saddened and felt such loss. Her strength, resolve and amazing faith was a rod for both her and her twin daughters. I wanted the card I did for them to reflect his wonderful life. I made the same card for another friend here but stepped it up a little. This is the card I made.....

As you can see, I stamped the edge of the card with the flourish after I ran it through the embossing folder. I think it gives just enough without being over the top.

I was very happy with the way this turned out. Sympathy cards are never easy, but I do like this design.

Thanks for popping by.

Stuff used:
CS: (SU) Night of Navy, Whisper White
Ink: SU Night of Navy, Tim Holtz Distress ink - Broken China
Stamps: (SU) Teeny Tiny Sentiments, Vintage Vogue
Punches: (SU) Scallop Trim Border and Corner punch, Word Window Punch, Nesatbilities Fancy Tags
Other Bits: SU Square Lattice Embossing Folder, Dimensionals, Mini 1/2 pearls fm stash

Lynda xx

Crafter's Retreat #8

Good morning all.

One thing I think we all have some difficulty with is sympathy cards. I admit to having a couple of fail safe ones...as do we all. Not so long ago I saw a stunner on Andrea Buckland's blog here. It was one of the projects I was DETERMINED to get done at camp as I knew I would have the time needed to get it just right.

This was my 1st version of the card. The person I had it in mind for was a fan of greens.

Now whilst very happy with this version, for me it was just a tad stark, so I stepped it up. The cross itself reminded me of one of the ones you would see on a family's crypt of similar and that is where i found the idea of the trellising vines. This is version #2....

Now on Andrea's tutorial, she embosses the cross in 2 pieces, but I found it much easier to do it in 1 and that way I found that you could line up the join and make it near impossible to detect (hopefully) as seen here....

I think the vines from Vintage Vogue worked a treat here....don't you?? I also love the monotone look of Mellow Moss and Whisper White.

Thanks for dropping by. I believe this is the LAST one of my Crafter's Retreat posts....or perhaps one more. Thanks for enduring them all and I hope that you have enjoyed what I came up with. I will be back soon with more fun and creativity and hopefully a couple of pics from my fun time in Singapore.

Stuff Used:

CS: (SU) Mellow Moss (ret), Whisper White

Ink: (SU) Mellow Moss

Stamps: (SU) Teeny Tiny Sentiments, Vintage Vogue

Punches: (SU) Scallop Trim Border and Corner punches, Word Window Punch

Other bits: (SU) Square Lattice Embossing Folder, Nestabilities Fancy Tags Die, Dimensionals, Small 1/2 pearls fm stash

Lynda xx

Elements of Sympathy

Hi there all who pop by!

Today is a somewhat sombre post as sadly the FIL of one of the gals I play neball with passed away suddenly. We all know how difficult sympathy cards are to do, let alone MALE sympathy cards. I was trawling through my CASE cards file and came across this one from the immensely talented Tashana Lundy. I decided very quickly and came up with my version.

As you can see mine is slightly different. I dropped the ribbon (being for a male) and I also did not sponge the edge of the Nesties die (forgot in the haste to get it done!!) I also did not use Close to Cocoa, instead using Sahara Sand. I DID however shadow the flourish, stamping it in Sahara Sand first and then the Soft Suede. Here tis up close.

You also may notice that the wing of the bird is outside the cut shape of the die. I owe the learning of this technique to Debbie Pamment. She has done a tutorial for it here. Debbie has MASTERED this technique and uses it on quite a few of her cards. I have a LONG way to go...but at least now I have a handle on it. The large flower image from the stampset is stamped in Sahara...seen here.

I am happy with the way this turned out and I think it is fitting of a male sympathy card.

Stuff Used:
CS: (SU) Soft Suede, Sahara Sand, Very Vanilla
Ink: (SU) Soft Suede, Sahara Sand
Stamps: (SU) Elements of Style
Other bits: Nestabilities Labels 8

Looking very much forward to seeing the Neurologist next Tues. Thanks so much for all of your well wishes and messages of support.

Lynda xx

One of the hardest to do.

One thing about my line of work (for those of you who don't know, I am a Registered Nurse) is that death is one of the things you have to deal with on a fairly regular basis. Over the past years, I have formed a very special patient/nurse relationship with many whom I have looked after and this also extends to the members of their families as well. Just after Christmas, one of my long aquainted families lost the patriarch of their family after a long battle with Cancer. Although we all knew what the eventual outcome would be, it still does not stem the sense of hurt and loss that you feel.

I wanted to make a card for the widow that reflected both my sentiments and the personality of her husband. I made 2 as I was unsure of which direction I would go in.

In the first card....I went back to my quilling roots and used a technique called Combing to make a Cross out if 3mm white quilling paper.This was glued onto a textured blue piece of Bazzil CS. I then punched some hearts to make the rose in the centre, punched some leaves, added a crystal bead and a sticker sentiment. Here is the result.

For the second card, I turned to my stamps. I had seen this card on SCS and thought it could reflect a sympathy sentiment as well. The gentleman was a big fan of nature and showed strength to the very end. I started with a base of SU Ballet Blue (BB) and Night of Navy (NON). The Soft Summer set has a wattle like image which I felt was perfect. I stamped off the main image in BB (inking directly was too strong for a sympathy card) onto Very Vanilla CS and then did the outline of NON. I matted the image onto a piece of silver shimmer paper and added 3 silver brads, then onto a NON base. I also paper pierced for the first time. The sentiment was stamped in NON and is from the Heartfelt Thanks SU set. I was wrapped with the result. So much so...that this was the one that the family received.

I hope you to can find inspiration from a person's card and then see it in a slightly different way.

Thanks for dropping by and have a fantastic, inspired day.

Stuff used:

Card 1:

CS: Blue Bazzil

Paper: 3mm white quilling paper, blue paper fm stash to make the rose and leaves.

Punch: CP1 Heart and Leaf

Sticker: Upkit "With Sympathy"

Card 2

CS: (SU) Ballet Blue, Night of Navy, Very Vanilla, Stardream Silver (fm Alice's).

Ink: (SU) Ballet Blue, Night of Navy.

Stamp Sets: (SU) Soft Summer, Heartfelt Thanks.

Extras: Silver brads and SU Mat Pack.

Lynda xx