Oriental Sympathy Card

I made this

Supplies:

• Paper is by GCD from 2008!!! Yes, 10 years old.  Never been cut.
• I have been looking for a sympathy stamp I like for months now... and continue to strike out, so I freaking carved one!  It is rudimentary, but I do like the rough carved look with the rough edges.  I inked it with Tim Holtz Mixed Media ink in Vintage Photo. 
• Cardstock from Recollections Earth pack.

I'll share this with the House That Stamps Built current AG.  I haven't played over there in a while.

Deep Sympathy

A family-friend's father died unexpectedly necessitating a sympathy card.  Boo!  But this came together rather quickly:

Supplies:

• Strathmore paper masked with a torn edge and inked with the following DOx: Faded Jeans, Frayed Burlap, Bundled Sage
• Tim's Stripes stencil laid over the inked area and spritzed with water
• Sentiment brushed using those same inks listed above, sorting here and there to alter the colors
• Splatters added with the extra ink on my mat
• Tim's wildflower inked with DOx in Peeled Paint and Bundled Sage

I'd like to share this at the following challenges:

• Simon Says Stamp on Wednesday: Anything Goes
• Stamps and Stencils: Ombre (well, I kind of blended multiple colors for the gradient of the striped part, but the letters are ombre-ish too!)

Doggie sympathy

Made this for a coworker who lost his Jack Russel at age 15:

Supplies:

• Inexpensive watercolor paper cut 1/2" smaller than the kraft card
• Diecut flowers by Tim Holtz, cut from Tim Holtz paper then adhered with Distress Collage Medium in matte
• Doggie paws from a generic stamp set stamped with Perfect Pearls medium and dusted with Perfect Pearls in Heirloom Gold 
• Pink vintage ribbon... she was a girl-dog so it added a nice touch...

I'd like to share this at:

• AAA: 
  
• The Paper Players: 
  
• Scrapy Land: AG (Sizzix flowers)

Simone sympathy

This is an ultra-CAS sympathy card:

Supplies:

• Small scrap panel of Canson Mix Media paper inked at the bottom with Evergreen Bough DOx and Scattered Straw DI
• Sentiment written with Zig Emboss Writer and embossed with Ranger EP in Potting Soil
• Panel stabilized by affixing to a piece of brown textured cardstock, then both panels popped up with 3M dimensional adhesive

Super-duper CAS... but it was a sad death and everything I usually go to for sympathy cards (trees, leaves, flowers) seemed inadequate or somehow too much... which doesn't even make sense!

Leafy sympathy

I seem to always use leaves on sympathy cards:

I've been busy with little craft time and my mojo is suffering.  I think a lot of crafters do what I do at these times: tidy up our desks!  I organized a stack of snippets, and the torn leaf panel was part of that pile.  It is so pretty that it triggered my creativity (for a sympathy card-- strange, since that is my least fave kind of card to make, but nice to have on hand.)

Supplies:

• Leaf panel is Strathmore watercolor paper
• Leaf stamp must be 13+ years old-- just a cheap rubber stamp used when I helped my BFF with her first wedding which was in 2004, I think...
• Leaf stamp embossed with Ranger EP in Princess Gold
• Lindy's Stamp Gang Magicals used to color leaf panel
• Light background panel is generic cardstock stamped with Tim's Ledger Script stamp set with DOx in Antique Linen
• Mounted turquoise/teal panel is by Core'dinations
• Sentiment written with a Zig Emboss Writer and embossed with Ranger Antique Turquoise

I'd like to share this with the following challenges:

• Simon Says Stamp on Monday: Tear it up
• Retro Rubber:
  
• Addicted To Stamps: 
  

Pet sympathy card

Some family friends had to say goodbye to their dog, so sad...

I had little time to make a card but knew I wanted to use the pine branch and paws... now, what to say?  So I went to Pinterest for a pet sympathy quote.  If you ever want to cry, go ahead and search that!  I finally realized that while some of the saying were moving me,  everybody grieves differently, so I went with this quote.  What do you think?

Supplies:

• Letterpress paper by Lifestyle Crafts.  Torn edge embossed with Princess Gold SO by Ranger.
• Pine bough stamp by Stampendous made in 2002... I've had our for at least 5 years,  I'd guess.  Inked with Forest Moss DI and sprayed with water for the watercolor effect.
• Paw prints also have been in my stash for years. Not sure of the make. Inked with Versamark in Champagne and embossed with Princess Gold.
• Sentiment written with a Zig Emboss-writer and embossed also with Princess Gold. 
• Green scrap of paper from a pad that's probably 5 years old.  

I plan to share this with the following challenges:

• Retro Rubber:
  
• STAMPlorations CAS, June: 
  

Forget-me-not

I needed a few sympathy cards and came up with these:

Very simple, no sympathy sentiment on front.  Just added the panels made a few months ago using old botanical bookplates watercolored with DIs.  They were affixed to background panels inked using DIs and Distress Spray Stain through a Prima stencil.

I really need to make about ten of these in one sitting... looking at them now, they are somber enough to convey any sincere note, but also have a natural and home-made warmth.

I'll share at Simon Says Stamp on Wednesday: AG.

With Sympathy

This was super easy, and came together quickly, as you could probably guess...

Supplies and notes:

• I had jut used Tim's greenery die set for the first time, and these pieces were all laying around my desktop.  
• The woodgrain stripe is actually ARC Crafts cherry wood tape
• The sentiment was typed onto American Crafts kraft strickers meant for a typewriter

Done!  Love it!  (Well, I don't love that it's a sympathy card, 'cause that's sad... but I am all about an easy sympathy card, because these are the PITS to make when you are feeling sorrow!)

I plan to share this at the following challenges:

• MFT Sketch #302
  
• Creative Corner: Sympathy
• HLS Anything Goes With Dies
  

Mojo 229: 3 cards!

Whoa! Not sure how it happened, but here it is Monday evening, and I'm posting THREE cards for the Mojo sketch!

Details, details:
-All three cards were made using Basic Grey DP, and the birthday card also has some BoBunny Dp and paper of unknown make.
-The taupe seam-binding is MS; the striped ribbon is from Michael's.
-The oak leaf stamp is Inkadinkado, and the ink is cat's eye metallic...

Do you like them, Andy? I love how the sympathy cards turned out, but I had higher hopes for the birthday card.