Flourishing Phrases With First Frost and Cross of Hope Sympathy Card

A close friend of ours lost his mom recently, and though she lived to be 100 years old and had a full life, losing a parent is never easy, no matter when it happens. We wanted to have a beautiful sympathy card for the family to express our support for them and prayers for their comfort in their time of grief.

I find myself drifting towards First Frost frequently these days for the sheer beauty of the stamp set and coordinating dies and also the lovely Frosted Floral Specialty Designer Series Paper that is part of that suite. Simply gorgeous does not do it justice, and you really have to see it in real life to appreciate the shimmer of the paper. Photography is so inadequate.

Here's how I combined First Frost images with the Cross of Hope Framelits and Flourishing Phrases sentiments to create this card:

• I chose a palette of blues and teals for the peaceful, healing vibe they give and added some Sahara Sand for contrast. I have Night of Navy, Bermuda Bay and Tranquil Tide as well.
• I love the frame from the Frosted Bouquet Framelits which gives you the option of making a thin border around the outside. I used the Joyous Noel Glimmer Paper in Tranquil Tide to create that frame and also the intricate cross from the Cross of Hope Framelits.
• I layered several different types of foliage and flowers around the cross including some baby's breath die cut from vellum card stock. The roses are stamped in Tranquil tide and Bermuda Bay.

This past Saturday, I held a very successful Holiday Catalogue Launch at my house and I thought I would share some images of the decor I used:

Many of the designs you see were CASEd right out of the Holiday Catalogue. There are far too many to make in a short time for me to come up with all my own designs, but I added my own touches to some and some are entirely my own, but they were effective in giving my customers a good look at what the different products could do and what they looked like. We had a good time with games, door prizes, make & takes and food (pumpkin roll bar is delicious!) And it was free. And my retired products were on sale! You'll have to come out next time!

Click on the links below to take you to my On-Line Store, where you can read about, look at, and purchase if you wish, the products used to make this card today.

Product List

First Frost Clear-Mount Stamp Set [148420] $30.00	First Frost Wood-Mount Stamp Set [148417] $41.00	First Frost Clear-Mount Bundle [149943] $67.50	First Frost Wood-Mount Bundle [149942] $77.25	Flourishing Phrases Wood-Mount Stamp Set [141531] $67.00
Flourishing Phrases Clear-Mount Stamp Set [141534] $50.00	Frosted Floral 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper [147800] $19.00	Joyous Noel 6" X 6" Glimmer Paper [147817] $20.50	Vellum 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [101856] $12.25	Night Of Navy 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [100867] $11.50
Sahara Sand 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [121043] $11.50	Whisper White 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [100730] $13.25	Night Of Navy Classic Stampin' Pad [147110] $10.25	Bermuda Bay Classic Stampin' Pad [147096] $10.25	Sahara Sand Classic Stampin' Pad [147117] $10.25
Tranquil Tide Classic Stampin' Pad [147146] $10.25	Cross Of Hope Framelits Dies [145654] $37.00	Frosted Bouquet Framelits Dies [147895] $45.00	Big Shot [143263] $150.00	Multipurpose Adhesive Sheets [144106] $13.50
Liquid Multipurpose Glue [110755] $5.25	SNAIL Permanent Adhesive [104332] $9.00	Glue Dots [103683] $7.00	Stampin' Dimensionals [104430] $5.25

Back to Vintage for Paper Pumpkin March 2018

My March Paper Pumpkin Kit arrived late last week and I just got around to putting it together yesterday! It was a special kit, celebrating Paper Pumpkin's 5th Birthday, and it came with a special commemorative box and a free gift to say thank you! The gift was a couple of sheets of cool laser cut wooden embellishments!

It was a bit surprising to me, because it was totally a vintage style of papercrafting in this month's kit! It's been so long since I've done any vintage cards, but I still love the style! So much effort went into making every element look aged! And minimalist it was not! If you take a look at these lovely cards and envelopes you'll get the idea!

• Although I followed directions for the basic layouts, I did add a little of my own design to the cards, mostly in the form of different sentiments, since I need thank you cards for all the orders coming in the next few days. I also added some Very Vanilla 1/2" Lace Trim to both card design, since it hasn't been getting much love lately and it is so perfect for any vintage project.
• Since the thank you cards are for customers for orders, I used the Crafting Forever stamp set for one of the sentiments.

• This kit contains the most unique envelopes ever! One has a vintage rose image on the front with Flower Seeds imprinted as well. The other has an old fashioned frame and script:

• I wanted more coloured pearls to use so I tried to use my Stampin' Blends to colour a few more, but I was having trouble matching the colour from the kit (Fresh Fig). I did get close with my light shade of Rich Razzleberry over the light shade of Night of Navy.

It was a lot of fun to do and I sure hope you didn't cancel your subscription before you were able to take advantage of March's kit. It's all sold out now, so there likely won't be refills, at least not for quite awhile longer, but there is a new deal for New Subscribers. Sign up before May 10 and get your first two months at 50% off, using the code: SAVEFIFTY0418 .

Click on the links below to take you to my On-Line Store, where you can read about, look at, and purchase if you wish, the products used to make this card today.

Product List

Crafting Forever Wood-Mount Stamp Set [143955] $40.00	Crafting Forever Clear-Mount Stamp Set [143958] $27.00	Eastern Beauty Photopolymer Stamp Set [143675] $26.00	Rose Wonder Photopolymer Stamp Set [140697] $33.00	Flourishing Phrases Wood-Mount Stamp Set [141531] $64.00
Flourishing Phrases Clear-Mount Stamp Set [141534] $48.00	Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad [126974] $8.50	Very Vanilla 1/2" (1.3 Cm) Lace Trim [141672] $9.25	SNAIL Permanent Adhesive [104332] $9.00	Fast Fuse Adhesive Refill [129027] $10.00
Glue Dots [103683] $7.00	Stampin' Dimensionals [104430] $5.25