Simply Sketched for the Pals Paper Arts #175

My husband and I are at an age where we are either going to weddings or funerals.  Weddings for our own children of children of our friends and funerals for our parents or parents of our friends. Sadly, today’s card was made for a friend who lost her father recently.  I also chose to incorporate the PPA color challenge of Always Artichoke, Cajun Craze and So Saffron.

About the card
1.  These colors probably screamed Fall to you.  They did to me as well.  However, I didn’t really want to use leaves for my sympathy card.  That left me with the dilema of how to incorporate these very rich colors without looking fall-ish.

2.  I wanted to use a stamp I hadn’t used before.  I liked the bird from Simply Sketched and practiced a bit with it before stamping on real paper.  I’m glad I did because I ended up embossing with Early Espresso.  I then used the Always Artichoke marker to redraw the stems.

3.  I applied cajun craze with a sponge after stamping off several times.  I wanted this to be very light and not overpowering.  Same with the So Saffron.  At that point, the bird was also so saffron,  I added some cajun craze using a marker and blended with a blender pin.  I even added a bit of Always Artichoke in the darker spots.

4.  I lined my envelope with some retired DSP.  I am really getting some great use out of my retired patterned paper for envelope liners.  So easy with the envelope liner framelits.

Thanks for stopping by today.  We are smack in the middle of the big Stampin Up Sign Up Deal for only $25. Are you a Hobby Stamper?  Do you like using 20% off coupons when you buy stuff.  Well this deal is the perfect deal for you.  Stampin UP has lots and lots of Demonstrators who don’t sell to others, but take advantage of getting 20% off of their own orders.  It’s why I joined, I needed to support my own habit.  That 20% made a big difference.  And if you join now, you pay $25 but you receive your choice of $25-$26.95 worth of stamps, paper, ink, accessories,  whatever you like.  Then, you get 20% off of any other orders you place between now and the end of March 2014.  If you place an order of $150 or more in the first 45 days, you get a 30% discount instead of 20% and all the hostess benefits as well.  That’s amazing.

There is no pressure to stay a demonstrator after March.  No penalty to drop.  But what a deal, especially if you were considering placing an order soon anyway.  It’s a win-win.

If you would like more info, or have questions, drop me a line at StampingWithAverysOwlery@gmail.com.

Lynn

What I used
Stamps: Simply Sketched, Ink: Always Artichoke, So Saffron, Cajun Craze, Versamark, Paper: Very Vanilla, Always Artichoke, Accessories: So Saffron ribbon, Candy dots, early espresso embossing powder.