Another Sympathy Card

I made this card this afternoon. It is for Mary Jo Welch, the wife of my first pastor, Reuben Welch. They arrived in Hawaii sometime in late 1948 to pastor a Nazarene church and my family started attending the church in January 1949. I was 6 and a half years old at the time. I have tried to stay in touch over the years and made sure I saw them whenever he was holding services in and around Sacramento. Mary Jo was a super person; she was a professor for many years at Pt. Loma Nazarene University in San Diego where they have lived. She has been in poor health for many years to the point of being an invalid. She died in her sleep this past Saturday and was 83 years old. Hearing the news yesterday of her passing was like hearing the news of the passing of a close family member. She was very special to me.

I CASED the layout from a post on Splitcoast Stampers, then changed a little of it including the colors that were used in the CASE. The card is peach with an olive layer that I used my new toy on, my Cuttlebug, using the swiss dot embossing folder. (I had a time trying to figure out how to use the Cuttlebug, however, now that I know how to use it, I will be using it often. It is the neatest thing!!) The smaller layers are close to cocoa, peach and ivory. The branch is from a SU stamp set I just got, Artfully Asian. I used Apricot Appeal and Mellow Moss SU markers to color the flowers and leaves. I edged the scalloped oval in Creamy Brown and used foam tape to raise it up. The ribbon is sheer olive from A Muse. The cardstock is SU and Bazzill. I also used a corner rounder on all the layers on the bottom of the right side. I am quite pleased with the way it turned out.

Cards for Denise

These are some cards that I've made for my daughter. She and her husband are opening a coffee shop in Enterprise, AL where they've recently moved. There is a real estate office in the building they are opening their coffee shop in. Denise wanted me to make some simple cards that the realtors might be interested in purchasing to give to their clients after purchasing a home. This first one is a simple house that I stamped on Confetti Cream cardstock from SU. I used Copic markers to color the door and trees. The sun is punched from a Martha Stewart scalloped punch.

Here's another simple design. The stamps are from AMuse.

The next four designs are the ones that I am making sets of 5 each for Denise to sell in the coffee shop. The base card and stamps are from AMuse. I used a Copic marker to outline the house with giving it a shadow effect.

This is the second card. I used an eyelet brad for the tree tire. Base card and stamps are A Muse.

This is the 3rd card. I stamped the roof of the house on white cardstock then traced it on the red madeira card stock. The base card and stamps are A Muse.

There are 3 different view of the fourth card. It is called a pocket card. This view shows the insert slightly pulled out. This particular design makes a really nice invitation. The ribbon tied around the top of the card is what is holding it together.

This view shows the two parts of the card.

Here is the card put together. We made one of these in an Asian card class at the Paper Garden earlier this year. I can make this particular card to suit whatever event an invitation is needed.

Price: $3.50

Sunflowers for Fall

I spent most of the day today at my craft table. I saw this card in a magazine and just had to make it. I didn't have a sunflower stamp so I called the Paper Garden to see if they had any in stock. They did, so I made a quick trip down there. They actually had several sunflower stamps. This is the one I chose. There are actually 7 layers of cardstock on this card, more than I've ever used in a card. It needs a little work to it. The top 2 layers are a little too big and should be trimmed down a little. I'll do a revision when I make it again. The base card is a gray then a rust color layer, a piece of designer paper, a small strip of rust layered with kraft. The top 2 layers are a dark brown and white. I used SU's basic brown to stamp the sunflowers then colored them with SU's Summer Sun and More Mustard markers. The hard part was punching out 3 circles using a 1/4 inch hand punch, using a glue dot to adhere to the white layer, then using the 1/16 inch hand punch for a hole to insert the brads in. The ribbon is chocolate grosgrain by SU. The sunflower stamp is by Wordsworth/Rubber Soul. The card in the magazine was made as a Sympathy card. I decided to not put a saying on my card. It could be for any occasion; definitely a fall card. I think it turned out great even if it was rather involved.

This is another card I made today. I really like the way this one turned out. The base card is white. The two dark strips are black designer paper. There is actually a design on the paper; it can't be seen. The white strips over lap each other as the black strips do. I stamped the flowers in Warm Red chalk ink then cut them out. I used a clear glitter pen to go over the lines in the flower giving it some sparkle. I used foam tape to adhere them to the card. The flower stamp is by Savvy Stamps, the saying by A Muse, and the dp is from Cardmaker's Classic Creative Pack by Hot Off The Press.

Price: $3.50

Handy Note Pads

These are 2 open views of note pad holders that I made for all the girls in our family. They are made from cardstock and has a 3x5 note pad attached. A pen is included in the holder that's been cut in the center.

I got the template to make these at the Paper Garden Boutique. Ken, the husband of Stephanie who owns the shop, made these up and had them posted on their blog. I thought it was such a cute idea and wanted to try and make them. I thought they came out really cute.

They can be made in your choice of colors. I used a hair rubber band to hold it closed and punched out 2 flowers using a Marvy flower punch. I fastened them to the rubber band by punching a hole in the middle of the flower and using a brad. Stickles (glitter glue) was added to give them some sparkle.

Price: $5.00 each

Sympathy Card

Here is a Sympathy card I made this evening. I received an email this past week that a young man, Ryan Bright, that I worked with at the Juvenile Courthouse passed away last Sunday. He was 35 years of age. I called him "kid" because he was younger than my daughter. He was the facilities coordinator at the courthouse and always had a smile on his face. I don't know what caused his death. There is a memorial service this next week and I wanted to make a card for his family. I am quite pleased with the way it turned out. The stamp is part of SU's Lovely As A Tree stamp set. The card stock is generic and the designer paper is from Basic Grey. The colors are olive green, red, black and white card stock. The dp has olive green, red, pink, brown and white in it.

Cards for Jeanne

It's been a few weeks since I posted anything new. We've been pretty busy with a trip to Portland and then my husband's kids that live out of town visiting for a week. His sister also visited. She purchased a few of my cards and these are 3 cards that I had to make for her. I finally got them done this evening. The first one is a card that was made in a class at The Paper Garden back in January of this year. The wording on the class card said "With Sympathy". Jeanne wanted it to say "Thinking of You". The fern stamp is from Judikins. I used 3 different chalk inks for the fern and 1 of the chalk inks for the stippling. The scalloped oval was edged in chalk ink. The ribbon is from May Arts. It's a real classic looking card.

This second card is one that was made in a class taught by Julie Ebersole from A Muse Art Stamps during Amuseapalooza Week. The pattern card, stamps, ribbon and twinkle sticker is from A Muse.

This last card is one with lady bugs scampering all over the card. The base card is black. I edged the white layer with red ink and used a red Copic marker to color in the lady bugs. I then used a clear Spica glitter pen to go all over the lady bugs. The saying is from A Muse. A very simple, cute card.