Sympathy with Roses

When I started making this card, I had planned to make a Valentine with it...hence the Rococo Rose and gold colors.  I had the flowers stamped, colored, and cut out and the background made.  But then I needed a sympathy card and I thought - this will work for a sympathy card too!

Sympathy cards don't have to be dull and sad, or clean. Gold is perfectly acceptable!

To start off, I stamped the two roses from my latest set from Unity Stamp Co, called "I Feel Love".  I stamped them on Very Vanilla Thick cardstock, and colored in with my Stampin' Blends markers in Rococo Rose, and Mint Macaron.  When you're using any kind of alcohol marker, like the Stampin' Blends or Copic markers, you want a thicker card stock.  The alcohol bleeds through the back no matter what, but with a thicker cardstock, you won't see as much bleeding outside of your stamped image lines.

Hand-cut those flowers, and set aside. 

Then I worked on the background.  Initially, I stamped some lines of words all over in Versamark ink.  Then I decided that I wanted to crumple the paper to really give it some texture.  That wasn't quite what I wanted, so I smeared the Versamark pad across large bits of the crumpled up card stock and threw on some gold embossing powder.  I liked it!

I added 1/2 of a doily that I inked directly with an Antique Linen Distress ink pad.  Glued the doily right on to the background piece.  Added my flowers with dimensionals and glue, and a ribbon tied with some Antique Lace trim.

For the greeting, I dug out an older Paper Pumpkin stamp set, and was happy to discover that it fit perfectly inside one of my newest die sets - Stitched So Sweetly.  They are new in the Occasions catalog, and I LOVE them!  I've been wanting some stitched/scalloped rectangles, and there are a few other shapes in the set also.  Love, love, love! I'm going to get a lot of mileage out of these.

Once I had the card finished, I made the envelope using a piece of Rococo Rose card stock and my Envelope Board Punch.  I stamped some words and the roses all over, in Versamark ink - for that tone-on-tone effect.  In this case, I stamped after I used the envelope board to make the envelope base.  Once I let that Versamark set for a bit, I folded it up and glued the flaps down.

Tied it closed with some more of that lace trim, and a tag.  "With Love" is from the same Paper Pumpkin stamp set as the sympathy.  Emboss that in Gold, and tie it on with some Linen Thread.

I was sorry to have to make this card, but I hope it's pretty enough to make my friend smile.

Supplies you'll need to create these (Stampin' Up, unless otherwise noted.  Items may be retired.):

Stamps: Chalk It Up to Love (Paper Pumpkin, August 2015), I Feel Love (Unity Stamp Co.)

Ink:  Midnight (Catherine Pooler), Versamark, Antique Linen (Tim Holtz - to cover the doily)

Paper:  Rococo Rose, Very Vanilla Thick

Other:  Stitched So Sweetly dies, Stampin' Blends markers (Rococo Rose, Mint Macaron), Antique Lace trim, Gilded Gold embossing powder (Brutus Monroe), Doily.

 

Thanks for visiting, and Happy stamping!

Toni

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