Light & Loss

Although part of life is loss, any death of a loved one leaves a permanent mark. Sympathy cards are so difficult to make & even harder to write; but I think they do give some comfort. Several of my friends have lost pets recently (including us, unfortunately) and I try to send condolence cards. This card isn't for anyone in particular, I was just inspired.

"Yellow is a happy place to be"

Inspiration/Challenges:

Double D Challenges: Photo Inspiration
Make My Monday: Pets
Mod Squad Challenge: Make A Negative A Positive

The die cut is from Spellbinder's "Dog Days" set. I cut it from the cardbox box that held a case of dog food; The circle is based on one of the can indentations. I used a circle die to create a mask from scrap paper, and heat-embossed the piece with 2 yellow powders. The cardboard warped a bit after embossing, so I ran it through my BigShot to flatten it.

The border is a yellow mesh bag that once held fingerling potatoes. I glued the mesh onto the white card base with ZipDrip, and then glued the cardboard piece on top.

I used the Faux Patina technique for the dog die-cut & inside negative piece. The former uses blue/green inks and the latter uses yellow/orange inks, along with browns. The wood, star-patterned kraft paper, and woodgrain-patterned paper heart are from my stash.

The background for the negative portion and the sentiment piece are left over from this card I made for a friend who recently lost her Mom; the colors & textures just seem right for condolence cards:

Thank you for visiting & inspiring my crafting!

Flora & Fauna + Texture with the UnstampaBelles

This month, The UnstampaBelles are challenging you to use the theme of Flora & Fauna with the twist of Add Texture. You can't use any stamps, so let your imagination run wild! I was inspired by the springtime in Arizona.

The background was created to resemble Faux Patina. What a fun technique -- you should join the fun at MFP Stamps this week. For the yellow piece, I used Antique Linen, Mustard Seed, Dried Marigold, and Vintage Photo distress inks; for the greener patina I used Tea Dye, Broken China, Peeled Paint, and Vintage Photo inks. In places where too much gold powder clumped, I sanded it down and added more ink.

The cactus is a Cricut cut I snagged from Mom's stash; she makes beautiful Arizona desert-inspired cards. I used a sort of lazy-lady's version of the smooshing technique to add several colors of green ink. I used white flowers with wood beads from Prima to decorate the saguaro.

The quail are from the Birds of Earth & Sky die from Cheery Lynn Designs. They're cut from a beautiful piece of handmade paper (Recollections).

For the sun (or moon!) element, I inked scrap paper with an orange ink, dabbed it with a watermark ink pad, and coated it with orange embossing powder. It's cut with a circle die.

I cut the banner from more scrap paper, inked it brown, coated it with a thick layer of Glossy Accents and covered it with a mix of taupe mica chips (Stampendous) & a purple/gold chip mix from my stash. While the piece was partially dried but still damp, I added a layer of Brown Sugar embossing powder (Zing).

I left the wood veneer sentiment alone, except for heating it a bit with my heat tool to enhance the dark edges. I'm very pleased with how this came together. Be sure to check out the fabulous projects by my teamies and hope you'll join us this month at UnstampaBelles!

Inspiration/Challenges:
Inkspirational #106: Rock
Latina Crafter #58: Sketch
MFP Stamps Challenge: Faux Patina
Scrapy Land Challenge #39: SL die (Cheery Lynn)

Update: This won the prize for MFP Stamps Week 15 as well as Latina Crafter #58!


Thank you for visiting,