Sympathy & Banish the Blues

Card Kits, flowers, Holidays, Ocassions, Stampin' Up!, Sympathy, Thinking of You/Miss You, Valentine's Day

Hello friends!  Hope you have enjoyed a nice weekend.  Unfortunately, I needed to make up a sympathy card and didn’t realize that I had run out of them, so I will need to make some up in the future so I can have them on hand and not have to worry about it when the time comes again.  I had a friend who recently passed and needed a card for her family, so I pulled out a set that I hadn’t used before until now:

vicki-su blue sympathy

This is an older set from last year’s Sale-a-Bration at Stampin’ Up! called “Heartfelt Blooms”.  I think it’s so pretty and since the lady who passed was a happy crafter, I felt good about making this tribute for her.  I will miss seeing you at lunches Penny, rest in peace my friend.

I stamped the floral image several times with a Copic friendly navy color ink over some cream colored cardstock and then colored in the images with my Copic markers.  I also went around the images with some markers and blended it all out around the design.

I then took some distress ink and the foam ink blending tool to soften the edges a bit and make it look a bit more Vintage.  I also stamped the sentiment with navy ink and die cut it along with some navy cardstock with a banner die.  I sponged around the edges of this as well.  I wrapped some linen thread several times around this panel and tied it off with a bow next to the banner.  I then attached it over an A2 sized top folding navy card base.

I created a matching envelope by stamping the image in navy ink over it as well.  Lastly finished off the design with some clear sequins.

vicki-su blue sympathy-close

Here’s a closer view of the coloring on the floral image I did as well as the sponged around the front panel and banner.  I thought all of the blue colors turned out really pretty and made a nice Vintage feel.

Challenges I’d like to enter for the above card:

  1.  A Bit More Time to Craft – #84 Anything Goes
  2. The Creative Crafters – Anything Goes
  3. Crafty Catz – Anything Goes with optional:  Blue, Green plus one other color (cream)

So on another {positive} note, I’d also like to remind you that there are still a couple of days left to play along with us over at the Cute Card Thursday Challenge this week!  The theme for this challenge is “Banish the Blues” which I felt like doing in my craft room and so I decided to make this “Fun-Loving” card:

vicki-bm-lovebugs

Now how happy do these cute honey bees look?!  They almost look like they’re dancing in the air!!  I’ve used items from a February card kit for this card.

I’ve heat embossed the bees and colored them in with some Aqua Pigments. I’ve used the paper from the kit and stamped the background and the edges of the bee panel with some SU! ink that happened to match up with it.  I then white heat embossed the sentiment from the same stamp set above the bee panel.  I sponged around the edges of this red panel with white ink and attached it to a side folding A2 sized card base.

vicki-bm-lovebugs-close

Here’s a closer look at the bees and how I’ve colored them.  Some of the Aqua Pigments are shimmery and I’ve used a couple of those colors too!  I’ve added some white dots on their cheeks as well as a few around the hearts.  I topped off their eye-balls with some glossy accents.  I’ve also stamped some more “xoxo”s on each end of this image border and layered it over a piece of black cardstock.  I took two strips of glitter washi tape from the kit and added it above and below the image panel area and then attached the bees over top but between the strips.  Lastly I’ve added a heart shaped sequins to the center of the white embossed heart “O” in the sentiment and the rest of the sequins from the kit randomly placed on the card.  I topped off the circle sequins with some Nuvo White Blizzard Glitter Drops.

Hope this helped to end my post on a happier note with a smile.

Thanks so much for checking in with me today!  I’ll see you again tomorrow for more crafty inspiration!!

Here’s some challenges I’d like to enter the above “Bee card” for:

  1.  Shopping Our Stash – #SOS386 Hearts On Fire
  2. Moving Along With the Times – #89 Have a Heart
  3. QKR Stampede – #331 Anything Goes
  4. Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – #PIP1903 Anything Goes
  5. Paper Girls – #168 Sparkle and Shine
  6. Double Trouble:  #20 Thing 1 Trouble Maker – “Love is in the Air” (honey bees!), Thing 2 Double Dare – Entered the Paper Girls Challenge #168, Thing 3 Twisted Sister – “Sparkling and Shining” (I used metallic watercolor, sequins, glitter drops and glitter washi tape)

Published by *Vicki*

I'm so happy you found me! I love to share smiles with my handmade cards! I also enjoy papercrafts through art journaling, scrapooking and mixed media projects too! Thanks for stopping by!

Published

34 thoughts on “Sympathy & Banish the Blues”

  1. Dear heavens, that floral sympathy card is just gorgeous!!! Your coloring is awesome, the distress ink to ‘antique ‘it is s wonderful touch!!!
    That cute bee pair is so cute- what a fun card! Love the shimmer!

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  3. So sorry to hear the sad news Vicki x What a beautiful card you made for her family, stunning design and wonderful colouring. You obviously made it with love x. Your second card is fun and brought a smile to my face x.

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  4. I love what you’ve done with that SU! set to make the sympathy card! It’s vintage appeal looks amazing with the way you colored it, and it’s just wonderful! Love the 2nd card too as it made me giggle 🙂 So fun 🙂

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  6. I am so sorry for the loss of your friend. May G-d comfort you during this time of sad goodbyes and joyful memories. Your sympathy card is just beautiful. The beautiful image and the soft brown suede coloring is so soothing…I know it calmed my spirit just looking at it. Your Banish the Blues card is equally compelling in its design and execution. This card will definitely put a smile on anybody’s face. Thanks so much for sharing with us at Shopping Our Stash!
    Hugz,
    Chana, Designer

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  8. Such a beautiful Sympathy card Vicki..gorgeous flowers and colouring and loe the matching envelope..and those little Bee’s are too cute..

    Luv CHRISSYxx

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  12. What a stunning sympathy card Vicki, the flowers and colors are absolutely beautiful! I’m sure it will bring comfort to the family and I’m sorry for the loss of your friend. Your bee card is adorable, I love that sweet image and your red background, so fun!
    Hugs, Tammy

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  16. Your sympathy card looks absolutely gorgeous, Vicki. I so love the pattern you’ve created with this flower stamp.
    The little bees are too cute, your card is adorable

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    2. I think if you check the box after you leave your comment here to have your information remembered for next time you leave a comment, you don’t have to enter it every time you visit. That’s only if you want to, thought it might make it less time consuming for you! Thanks for your love and kindness always! HUGS

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  17. Beautiful sympathy card. I have this stamp haven’t used it for a while. It is so hard to have to make a sympathy card vs going to your stash and pick out one. So sorry for your loss of a friend. Then the second card brings smiles so cute.

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  19. Hi Vicki,
    so sorry foor the loss deepest sympathy.
    Love your wonderful cards and their beautiful designs are brilliantly created.
    Thank you for joining the MAWTT Challenge.
    Lots of crafty love. Jenny L. DT

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  20. a beautiful and simple card, sorry for your loss, thanks for sharing a Crafty Catz challenge and hope to see you again
    Tilly

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  22. So sorry for the loss of your friend, and the card you made for the family is gorgeous. The bees are adorable and love how you used liquid glass on the eyes, and the glitter will make our Twisted Sister very happy. Thanks for sharing this with us at Double Trouble and our partner at The Paper Girls. Please come back and share more of your projects with our fun challenges.

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  23. I have this stamp and have never, ever, ever gotten it to stamp successfully. Your stunning sympathy design is an inspiration to me to get it out and try some more!! What a breath-taking beauty, Vicki!

    Lots of love for the bumblebee Valentine, as well!!

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  24. Such a beautiful creation Vicki, love those beautiful flowers and the design! I am so very sorry for the loss of your friend. Thank you for sharing with us over at The Creative Crafters. We hope to see you again. Your second card is so adorable, love those honey bees and the design!
    ~ DT Sherry x – https://creativecrafterschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/

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  26. So sorry, my friend, that you needed a sympathy card! The card is so beautiful with the striking blue flowers! Another beautiful piece of artwork, Vicki! The card with the awesome love-bees is fantastic. I love the remarkable bees! Two great cards, Vicki! Hugs!

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  28. I’m so far behind again! So sorry to hear about your dear friend, Penny. This beautiful card is a nice tribute to her, and will be a comfort to her family. I wish I’d bought this stamp, but sadly, it slipped past me. Nicely done, dear friend!

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  29. Oh, Vicki, both of these cards are beautiful! You did an amazing job with the sympathy card, that is still one of my favorite Stampin’ Up stamps, but you really brought it to life. I’m sure your friend appreciated it. And of course, that darling bee card is just too cute! I love all the additional details you added to make it shine! Thank you so much for joining us Paper Girls in our Sparkle and Shine challenge with Double Trouble!

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