Baseball-themed Sympathy Card

One of my dad's softball buddies, Bobby, passed away recently after suffering some serious illnesses.  I created this card to send to his family.

The background papers are from the Good Ol' Sport collection by Graphic 45.  The baseballs, sentiment and focal image are by Artistic Outpost.  I stamped them on vanilla cardstock and colored them with Prismacolor Premier pencils and distress inks.

My parents met Bobby and his wife through the softball team at the RV park in Arizona where they all spend the winter.  Bobby was the team's pitcher and my dad was the catcher, so they developed a pretty close relationship.  You'll never meet two guys who love playing softball as much as these two!  Here's a photograph of their team the year they took second place in their division.  Bobby is in the front row wearing the burgundy jacket; my dad is in the back row, fourth guy from the right.

Thanks for stopping by my blog.  Have a wonderful day!

Sending Happy Thoughts - Healing HeArts Mixed Media Postcards

At Healing HeArts this month (the art therapy program I attend for cancer patients, caregivers and family members), the project was right up my alley: mixed media cards.  Healing HeArts is held at a local arts and music academy where we have access to just about every kind of art supply you can imagine, and for this activity, the program facilitator brought hundreds of his own rubber stamps.  I took my basic supplies kit which included some of my favorite vintage ephemera.  To say I enjoyed myself is an understatement!

I made several mixed media collages on watercolor paper that I could send either as postcards or attached to a card front.  I started by cutting watercolor paper to size (4 x 5.25 inches) and doing a quick watercolor wash as a background.  I adhered random pieces of vintage book pages and postage stamps, then stamped on the butterfly, hash marks, and sometimes a sentiment.  Once I got home, I scraped a thin layer of white acrylic paint over the book pages in order to blend them in better, and added cancellation marks over the postage stamps.

I created this collage with the blue background specifically for a friend who recently learned that she has had a recurrence of breast cancer.  I attached it to a card front and sent it to let her know that I was thinking of her.  I love that Healing HeArts had a double benefit this month:  I enjoyed creating these cards, and my friend enjoyed receiving some cheerful mail during a difficult time.

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a wonderful day.

Happy Mother's Day

I've been making a Mother's Day card for my mom for at least eleven years now, and it's important to me that I not duplicate a design I've used in the past.  That's easy enough to do if one keeps buying new stamps and papers, but I've cut back on my spending and am trying to use what I already have.  So I turned to the internet for inspiration, and found this card that I could put my own spin on.

For the flowers on my card, I die-cut patterned papers and vintage sheet music using some of the first Spellbinders dies I ever bought: standard circles.  The leaves were also cut using Spellbinders dies.  To ground the flowers, I added an embossed layer of cardstock in the same color as the background.  I like the texture that it gives without detracting from the flowers.  The sentiment was heat-embossed in a color called peridot which coordinated well with the color of the leaves.  It's not easy for me to make clean and simple cards  that feel like "me," so I was really happy with how this card turned out

Happy Mother's Day to all you moms!  Thanks for stopping by my blog.

Love and Sympathy

This past week our family said goodbye to one of the kindest people you could ever know:  Aunt Carol.  She was my mother's youngest aunt by marriage and absolutely my favorite aunt on that side of the family.  She was super sweet and had the cutest laugh.  I'm grateful that she lived close enough for us to visit often, and that I just went to see her a few weeks ago.

 

Aunt Carol loved pink roses, so I dug through my stash looking for the perfect embellishment and found this mulberry paper flower.  It is backed with some extra foliage sprigs, cut with a Spellbinders die.  The sentiment was stamped with Versamark ink and heat-embossed in silver.  I need to remember to do this more often!  It really elevates the level of any card.

Thanks for stopping by.  Have a great day!  

Supplies: 

Green and buttermint cardstock by Bazzill; poppy embossing folder by Anna Griffin for Cuttlebug; sentiment from Stampin' Up; Versamark ink; silver embossing powder; foliage die and scalloped oval Nestabilities by Spellbinders; mulberry flower by Recollections (Michaels); corner rounder punch.

Ring My Bell - Valentine Thank You

Yes, I'm still making valentines!  Kind of.  This is a Valentine-themed thank you card for my mom's cousin, who gave me the corrugated cardstock I used to make the scalloped heart.  She had received a bunch of art and craft supplies from a friend who was downsizing, and she happily shared some items that were right up my alley.

After die-cutting the scalloped heart, I scraped it with titanium white acrylic paint and sprinkled on chunky antique gold glitter.  Once it was dry, I sponged gathered twigs distress ink around the edges.  I used a piece of vintage ribbon to tie on the smaller red heart, adding a mini Tim Holtz bell.  The Slavic-language sheet music is from an old hymnal in my stash.

Have a beautiful day!

Supplies:
Buttermints cardstock by Bazzill; patterned paper and corrugated cardstock by DCWV; titanium white acrylic paint; vintage gold chunky glitter by Recollections (Michaels); spun sugar and gathered twigs distress ink; vintage sheet music and lace from my stash; tiny bell from Tim Holtz; pop-dots.

Healing Hearts Valentines

For the past year or so, I've been attending a monthly art therapy group for cancer patients, caregivers, family and friends.  I learned about the group from the hospital where my dad received his cancer treatments.  The group is facilitated by a local artist and we've done everything from mixed media drawings to needle felting to watercolor painting.  At the last minute, I decided to make Valentines for everyone this month.

This special card was created for the facilitator.  To suit his style, I wanted to make the card more masculine and grungy than one might normally expect a Valentine to be.  I started with the large heart, which was die-cut from a piece of gray corrugated cardstock.  Using an old gift card, I roughly scraped on titanium white acrylic paint and while it was still wet, sprinkled on some chunky vintage gold glitter.  After the paint dried, I sponged vintage photo distress ink around the edges.  The red heart was also die-cut, scraped with white acrylic paint, and sponged with vintage photo distress ink.  After tying on a piece of jute twine, the red heart was adhered to the gray heart using pop-dots.  The vintage sheet music underneath the hearts received the same white paint and distress ink treatment.

For the other members of the group, I made these simple die-cut hearts using a variety of patterned papers and cardstock in my stash.  The hearts are tied together with a piece of baker's twine, and I simply hand-wrote my sentiment on the back.  I was feeling cheeky and gave two of the guys the hot pink ones, which gave everyone a good laugh. (One guy's wife quickly swapped her red one for his pink one, however.)

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:
Solid cardstocks by Bazzill; corrugated cardstock by DCWV; patterned papers from various manufacturers; vintage sheet music from my stash; titanium white acrylic paint; rusty hinge and vintage photo distress ink; vintage gold chunky glitter by Recollections (Michaels); heart and scalloped heart Nestabilities by Spellbinders; baker's twine by We R Memory Keepers; jute twine from the hardware store; pop-dots.

Galentine's Day Valentines

I was invited to a Galentine's Day party, which (if you believe Wikipedia), is an unofficial holiday of "ladies celebrating ladies" that grew out of an episode of the sitcom Parks and Recreation.  I never watched that show so I had never heard of Galentine's Day until this month, when the concept seemed to be all over social media.

The party invitation said we had the option of making Valentines to exchange and I decided that could be fun, especially since everyone invited to this particular Galentine's party was some kind of artist or maker.  Because I had to make a dozen Valentines, I kept my design simple.  My small (4.25 inches) square card featured a page from an old textbook topped with a heart die-cut from a piece of patterned paper and embossed with a floral pattern.  The sentiment was stamped on smooth cardstock and punched with a scalloped oval punch.

Don't they all look so sweet together?

Valentines I received in the exchange.

After enjoying some refreshments, sweet treats and lively conversation, the Valentine exchange took place around the hostess's dining room table.  It reminded me of elementary school, when we walked around to each classmate's desk to deposit a Valentine in their decorated shoe box (although for this party, most of us simply brought a large mailing envelope or gift bag).   It was so much fun to see how different all of the Valentines were, and to learn who made each one.  As you can see, the Valentines were as individual as the women who made them.  Oh!  I also got two pairs of funky ankle socks, which I forgot to put in the picture.  One pair features French bulldogs, the other elephants. 

Happy Galentine's, and Happy Valentine's Day, to you!  Thanks for stopping by.

Supplies:
Butter mints cardstock by Bazzill; patterned paper by DCWV (The Old World Stack); vintage book text from my stash; sentiment from Hampton Art; Ranger Archival black ink; heart die Nestabilities by Spellbinders; Anna Griffin Rosa embossing folder; Cuttlebug; scalloped oval punch from Stampin' Up; pop-dots.