Comforting Cards

Hi friends! It's time for our monthly Instagram hop at Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps. Head on over to my Instagram feed for a chance to win a gift code to the Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps shop! Today I'm sharing a couple of cards using my Forever Loved stamp set and coordinating dies.

First up is a clean and simple card. I created the background with the She's a Gem watercolor palette from Rachel Beth Designs, smooshing and splattering to my heart's content. I embossed the Matthew 5:4 verse from Forever Loved in black over the background.

Next I colored up the flower and a few leaves with Zig markers, then cut with the coordinating dies. I layered it all together, and then popped up the whole background on a foam sheet and adhered to a regular A2 card. A few white gel pen accents and some stickles for the flower center and this card was done.

My second card is a little more involved, this time embossing the leaves and flowers with white embossing powder on vellum cardstock.  I then blended archival inks onto the back of the vellum die cuts, until I was happy with the saturation.  I set those aside and started work on the background, picking up some smooshed prize ribbon distress ink.  I had a lot more ink on my desk than I wanted so I dipped the Delightfully Delicate Stencil in the ink and then laid it onto my background to get a bit of a pattern going.  I then added some light stenciling with the Leaf Branch Stencil around where I wanted to place my flowers.

Next I used a circle die to cut out a circle on one side of the background.  I embossed the thoughts and prayers sentiment in black, then laid this down on a panel of cardstock and popped the rest of the background up with foam tape for some dimension. I then layered all the vellum die cuts and adhered to the cardstock, then cut off any extra bits before adding to my card base.

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I hope you have a super creative day!

Soft and Subtle Sympathy

Hi sweet friends! Today I'm popping in to share a little inspiration with my new Forever Loved stamp and die set. It seems like I've needed a lot more sympathy cards lately, and so I'm on a mission to replenish my stash. 

For this card, I wanted a soft subtle look, so decided on a pink and grey color combo. The flower and greenery from Forever Loved were stamped on cardstock, then colored with Zig clean color real brush markers. The paper MATTERS with these markers, and remember when I mentioned the other day that I mistakenly stamped on Neenah instead of Bristol Smooth? This is one of the cards I made with those images. I ended up sticking with the process, just doing a lot more marker on marker blending instead of using water. With the magic of a white gel pen I was able to finally achieve a result I was pretty happy with. I then cut the images out with the coordinating die set and set aside.

For the sentiment panel, I used the new Leaf Branch Stencil with pumice stone ink for a soft background, then cut with a circle die and blended tattered rose ink around the edges. I then heat set everything, used a healthy dose of my powder tool, and embossed the sentiment with black ink and clear embossing powder.

For the card base, I used the same stencil with weathered wood ink and a very light touch on fog cardstock. I love the soft look of it. I then added a white circle mat to my sentiment panel to make it bring the eye in. I fiddled with the flower and leaf die cuts until I liked the arrangement, then glued them down and finished off with a fun sprinkling of sequins.

Thanks so much for stopping by today! 

New Forever Loved Stamp Set

Hi friends! I'm super excited to share my newest J. Tilman Designs stamp set just released over at Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps! This one is near and dear to my heart. Whenever I think of Verve, these flowers are the stamps I miss the most. So I decided to give them a little comeback and pair them with some all new sentiment designs for a heartfelt set.

The set is a 6x6" clear stamp set, and has coordinating dies, which you can purchase separately, or at a little discount if you buy them together in the Forever Loved Stamp & Die Bundle. Plus, all new releases are at earlybird pricing through March 9! 

For today's card, I colored the images with Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers and a waterbrush. The key to these markers is truly the paper, as I was reminded when I originally stamped on a scrap of paper that I thought was Bristol Smooth, but ended up being Neenah Solar White. I couldn't understand why things weren't moving until I got out my Bristol Smooth pad and realized the paper was not the same!  Haha.  I made those images work (you'll see them in future posts), but it wasn't the magical blended look I was expecting. So I restamped the Forever Loved flowers on Bristol Smooth and everything blended dreamily.  I then cut the flowers and leaves with the coordinating dies and set aside.  

The sentiment is embossed in black onto a die cut from the Decorative Frames Dies. Next I started in on the background.  I wanted to use the new Spotted Stamp of the Month (free with a $65 order in the month of March), so embossed it in white, then blended distress oxides in tumbled glass, salvaged patina, and peacock feathers. I always love the look of emboss resist!  I layered everything together and added a little ribbon divider and a thin black mat to finish off the card.

Thanks so much for stopping by today! It means so much to me when a new stamp set releases. If you've got time, be sure to check out the entire March release. It's fantastic.