Does life ever throw you curves? Life as a caregiver is unpredictable. One day you're planning to do this chore or that one, and the next thing you know, you get a phone call and it's on to plan B, or plan C. Could be an unexpected trip to the emergency room, or just an unplanned trip to the store for something urgently needed. This week I was visiting my mother at her Retirement Home and she asked me what I would be doing that afternoon. I thought to myself, it depends on whether someone with a need calls, but I told her I was thinking about crafting, or napping. Then, you guessed it, the phone rang. My son's car had lost a tire. We knew the car was in it's last days, but we had hoped it would carry on a little longer. My son was stranded, with my 4 year old granddaughter, my 2 year old grandson, and my son's service dog in training, Sally. All were safe - a great cause for gratitude. The tow truck driver would help him get the kids to their mother's, but he needed to get back to Sudbury for work. Is it strange that I no longer felt the need for a nap? I packed a bag and was on my way to pick him within about an hour. The drive to pick him up and take him home took about 7 hours. Lots of time for visiting. A blessing really. I am so thankful to God for His protection and loving care. Life is so very unpredictable these days, but I'm realizing that doesn't have to be a bad thing!
Fortunately I had prepared today's card ahead of time. It's a Sympathy Card, however, you could easily turn this into a card for many occasions. I used the Love and Sympathy stamp from the Itty Bitty Greeting Stamp Set. If you don't have this set, you really should add it to your wish list. It has a stamp for just about any occasion, and because of the size, you can often substitute one for another in a card design.
I also used the soon to be released Floral Essence Stamp Set for this card. I am loving the floral images, and I haven't even started with the punch that co-ordinates with this set yet! This card is suitable for avid crafters, due largely to the quantity of supplies required, and the use of a die cutting machine. The colours used in this card are Blackberry Bliss, Crumb Cake, and Mossy Meadow. They work really well for a sympathy card, but you could switch it up to something brighter for another occasion.
To make the card, I started by stamping the flower in Blackberry Bliss ink on a Crumb Cake Stitched Circle cut using the Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies. Next I stamped the leaves in Mossy Meadow ink around the flower, and used a blender pen to pull some of the ink in to colour the leaves. The center of the flower was stamped in Crumb Cake ink. I cut a second Stitched Circle the same size from Vellum.
The die cuts that enhance the Stitched Circle were cut from the Flourish Thinlets, the leaves from Mossy Meadow cardstock and the Sprigs from Crumb Cake cardstock. If you don't have these dies, the sprig punch would be a good substitute, and you could fussy cut some leaves, or use an alternate leaf die. The soon to be released Wild Rose Dies, or Magnolia Memory Dies both have leaves that would work.
As mentioned earlier, the sentiment for this card came from the Itty Bitty Greetings Stamp Set. It was stamped in Blackberry Bliss on Crumb Cake cardstock. The sentiment was then die cut using a narrow Stitched Rectangle. I notched the end by angling the die over the narrow end of the rectangle, then running it a second time through the die cutting machine. I created a rectangle the size I wanted with the Mossy Meadow cardstock by cuttting a larger rectangle, then placing the die along the long edge to cut a second time, narrowing the original stitched rectangle, then repeating the process above to create the notch on the green rectangle. For an excellent video on these techniques check out Helen Read's Facebook Video. The sentiments were glued together before adding to the right hand side of the card.
To assemble the card (see first photo above), I embossed some Blackberry Bliss cardstock, 4" by 5 1/4", in the Tin Tile 3D Embossing Folder. This was glued to the card front, which I also cut from Blackberry Bliss cardstock, 4 1/4" by 11", scored at 5 1/2". I glued the two Stitched Circles together, offset, then used glue dots to attach the die cut elements to the back of the Stitched Circles. The entire piece was popped up using Stampin' Dimensionals, and the sentiment was added below on the right hand side of the card.
To complete the inside of the card, I cut a piece of Crumb Cake cardstock 4" by 5 1/4", then in Blackberry Bliss ink, I stamped several flowers randomly over the left hand side. I added some stamped leaves in Mossy Meadow ink.
I hope you liked the card today, and can see how readily these Stamp Sets (Floral Essence and Itty Bitty Greetings) could be used to create endless variations of cards for many Occasions. If you CASE the card and make variations of your own, please share it with me on my Pinterest Page, or on my Craftin' Granny's Stamping Friends Facebook Group (you will need to join the group to do this). All supplies can be purchased through my Stampin' Up Store, although the Floral Essence Stamp Set is not available to customers until June 4, 2019.
Happy Crafting!
Craftin' Granny
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