Give a Cheer
I've ink smooshed a background in soft coloured inks for a gentle backdrop for this Sympathy card. I started with Victorian Velvet and Milled Lavender Oxide Inks, added a little bit of Tattered Rose and Lost Shadow too. I used a Tonic craft mat, just smooshing down the ink pads and then spritzing with water and breaking up the square shape into a more random pattern before smooshing the paper down into the inks. I did several layers of ink but also left some quite open spaces. I wanted an airy feeling to the background. I love using butterflies for Sympathy cards, there's just something beautiful about the imagery and brings to mind the concept of transformation. So I used a mix of gorgeous butterflies in different forms from Whimsy Stamps. I used a stencil with gold ink to add some butterflies, I first used a gold ink to stamp a background script stamp randomly over the base just to add interest and some additional visual texture. I heat embossed a beautiful butterfly from a favourite Whimsy Clear Stamp set on Vellum and diecut it with the matching dies. I finished this lovely butterfly with some gold flat back pearls from Honeybee and adhered the butterfly to the card with liquid glue only along the body of the buttterfly, so the wings stayed free. I distressed the edges of the image panel with scissors and then popped the panel up on thick foam to add to the card base. Before adding it, I wrapped the panel several times with a thin pearlescent elastic cord that I've had in my stash since my earliest days of crafting! I just tied a simple bow to finish and added the panel to the card base. I did heat emboss the sentiment before adding the foam backing and cording, which helped me know where to line up the cord when wrapping it around. I decorated the inside of this card with a white page which I had stamped the sentiment 'There are some who bring a light so great to the world that even after they are gone the light remains'. I think this is such a beautiful sentiment for a Sympathy card from one of my favourite Whimsy Stamps sets and it completed this creation meaningfully.
Thanks for spreading positivity!
March 22, 2024
March 20, 2024