Butterflies, Watercolor & Sympathy

 Hope everyone is doing well and having a good week. I've popped in to share a Sympathy card for a high school classmate whose husband of many years passed from cancer. She lost her mother a few years back and I know she feels lost now so I felt like I should send her a card. 

Thought I would show you the side view first, lol. I found a really nice folded card base in my stash that measured 5-1/4" x 7-1/4".... a size I do not often use, but it had an envelope with it so what the heck. 

I chose SplitCoastStampers sketch SC90 because it reminded me of the cover plate die I was going to use and had the same few layers as I was planning. Hey, it fit the bill! 

   

I used a sheet of purple alcohol-inked card stock and some very light lavender Distress-inked card stock from the stack of backgrounds I've been collecting. I cut the purple card with a Stamplorations Butterfly Cover Plate die and I cut the lavender card with a Stamplorations With Sympathy sentiment die. I then got out my good watercolors and a half-sheet of watercolor paper, wet it, and made a background with blues and purples large enough to cover my card front. 

It was then just a matter of assembling and adhering the card front. I can give out a tip for gluing these cover plate type dies and other intricate dies: I use white craft glue that dries clear (Nuvo, Aleene's, iCraft, Tonic, Lawn Fawn, Gina K), and as an applicator I use those foam make-up wedges. I hold the foam with a binder clip so my fingers don't touch the glue. I pour some glue out on the upper corner of my craft mat (out of the way of what I'm gluing), then I put my die to be glued upside down on the mat, then I pick up the glue with my foam and gently pounce it on the die cut, over and over until I feel there is complete coverage where needed. Then I pick the die cut up and glue it down on my card and keep it under wax paper and a heavy book for 30 minutes to make sure it's adhered. And there isn't any seepage of glue like when I use the needle-tip applicator or a paint brush. I'm pretty quick to take the foam to the sink and wash/rinse the glue out afterward so that I can re-use it, but that's pretty frugal given how cheap a bag of those foam wedgies are at the dollar store. Still, they can be re-used if that floats your boat (and I was raised by two schoolteachers so I'm frugal and floating, lol). If the glue dries you can just snip off that part, being careful to cut straight for a smooth flat surface.

So I used a sheet from Colorbok's 12x12 Delilah paper collection and cut it down to mat the inside of my card. I hand-stamped SU and Pink By Design sentiments in Versafine Clair Warm Breeze ink. Then with the lightest pastel Memento ink colors I have, I stamped butterflies (Stamplorations, Urban Lily, The Paper Studio and Skipping Stones). That way, it was easy to write a handwritten note over the butterflies.

For the back, I found a scrap of Colorbok 12x12 Spray Paint collection card stock and paired it with a water colored scrap cut from my front mat. I hand-stamped an EK Success siggie and more Stamplorations butterflies with Versafine Clair inks.

I use a Sizzix Big Shot and the only other thing I've learned (the hard way) about cutting with these intricate dies is to definitely use the Precision Base Plate for Wafer Thin Dies.  End of Story, Period End Stop. 

I hope you liked today's card and I thank you for visiting. Stay crafty, well and safe! XOX

MY CHALLENGE PLAYLIST:

1.   SplitCoastStampers Sketch SC90

2.   Stamplorations Things With Wings Linky Party -- #2/7  I used Stamplorations products

3.   Stamplorations May CAS Challenge: Anything CAS Goes (Optional Color Twist Not played) -- #1/3 I used Stamplorations products

4.   Stamplorations Never-Ending Anything Goes Challenge -- I used Butterfly Cover Plate and With Sympathy Cutplorations dies on card front  

5.   Happy Little Stampers May Watercolor Challenge : Anything Goes 

6.   Classic Design Challenge May 2021 #5: AAG  

7.   2 Crafty Critter Crazies May Challenge #50: AG with a Critter -- #2/5  Butterfly

8.   Crafty Animals Challenge #50: AG with an Animal -- Butterfly

9.   Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #157: AAG -- #1/3

10. Outlawz Festive Friday 4/30-5/13: Anything Goes Theme

11. A Place to Start May 2021 Challenge #5: AG

12. Pearly Sparkles Challenge #62: Clean and Simple