Thinking of You, Spring

 

My favorite season is autumn. I love the cool weather, the rain and the changing leaves. In contrast, my least favorite season would probably be spring. Though similar to autumn, spring comes with seasonal allergies that make me miserable.

I recently watched a short indie movie about the different seasons. One of the things that stuck with me is how we're intrinsically tied to the seasons, on a spiritual level. If we celebrate each season as it unfolds, we feel closer to nature and life feels more simple. As I've actively worked on living and enjoying a simple and slow life, the idea of celebrating seasons really resonated with me.

This spring, I will try to celebrate the season instead of complaining about allergies. I will look to new growth and new possibilities of seeing my creativity through a fresh perspective. I'm excited to see new things I can try and master with a different outlook.

Sympathy Lilies

My mom visited recently and took with her the majority of the cards I've created over the past year - some to gift to friends, others to use herself. On one hand, this was wonderful! My cards will find a happy home somewhere and really brighten someone's day. On the other hand, it's left me with an empty stash that really needs to be replenished.

When it comes to sympathy cards, my go-to idea is simple and elegant flowers with a simple sentiment. For this card, I chose Taylored Expressions' Calla Lily Bouquet stamp. It's a lovely and large vase of flowers, and it has sentiments that also make it perfect for Easter, Mothers' Day or just "thinking of you".

I decided to go with watercolors this time, and wanted to soften the image contrast a bit, so I stamped them in brown. I used distress markers to water-color the image. There wasn't anything exceptional about my coloring here, I just did a simple wash of color without much shading and let the colors pool in around the darkest parts of the stamp.

When the watercolor piece was dry, I stamped the sentiment and trimmed it down. I wanted to do a subtle frame around it, so I used a piece of white cardstock to mat the front panel. I then adhered it to a raspberry Avery Elle notecard.

The notecard is a pretty bright color, so one might hesitate to use it for a somber occasion. But I think it works here because it contrasts with the front panel and makes the lilies stand out a little better. Another color I considered was a light blue - which would have echoed in the vase color. I preferred how the pink looked, though, and that's what I ultimately chose.

For this card, I hope I won't have a chance to use it for a very long time. :)

Thanks for reading!
~Elle~

With Sympathy

I think almost every card-maker struggles with sympathy cards. Card making is such a joyous and fun process that it seems almost wrong to create something for an occasion that's painful and sad. But a sympathy card can also be a source of comfort for the recipient.

This card wasn't made with anyone particular in mind, thankfully. I've stopped buying greeting cards from the store entirely, so I decided to create a small stash for myself with cards that would cover almost any occasion. Since I've been hitting pockets of being too busy to craft, I realize more than ever how valuable and important such a stash can be.

I started by cutting and scoring a piece of navy cardstock into a standard top-folding A2 card base (4 1/4 by 5 1/2"). Then I grabbed my Bigshot and cut out several stitched rectangular panels. I used a white woodgrain cardstock for the largest panel, a soft brown for the middle and plain white for the top.

I stamped several flower silhouettes from MFT's Peaceful Wildflowers in light gray ink, using second-generation stamping to add lighter images for extra depth. Second generation stamping is when you ink up a stamp, stamp it once on some scrap paper and the second time on your cardstock. It leaves you with a much lighter, faded or translucent image, which is perfect for the times you want a more subtle touch.

I stamped a sentiment from MFT's Grand Peaceful Wildflowers in navy ink.

I wanted to add a ribbon, but not add bulk to the card so it could be mailed out. So, I simply adhered a piece of ribbon to the middle panel, dividing it in half. I adhered the top panel to the middle panel with my standard adhesive, then mounted it on the woodgrain panel with foam tape. Lastly, I adhered the 3 panels to the card front, and the card was finished.

Supplies:
My Favorite Things Peaceful Wildflowers stamp
My Favorite Things Grand Peaceful Wildflowers stamp
My Favorite Things Hybrid ink in Nightshift Blue
Stampin' Up Classic inlkpads in Sahara Sand and Crumb Cake
Simon Says Stamp cardstock in Soft Navy, and in White Woodgrain
Neenah Solar White cardstock in 80lbs
Bazzill canvas cardstock in Fawn
My Favorite Things Blueprints 13 dies
Mama Elephant Femme Frames dies
Lawn Fawn Stitched Journaling card die
Stampin' Up Whisper White Organza ribbon
Tombow Craft Dot Adhesive Runner (pink)
3M Double-sided Foam Tape