Subtle Sympathy Card

Well, hi there everyone! Yesterday was the first day of Spring Break here and my plan was to spend all day in the studio stamping ahead of schedule for later this week, but did that happen? NOOO, I spent most of the day cleaning up after my sick doggie and fighting with Blogger trying to post this card I did manage to make. Apparently Blogger was having trouble yesterday which would explain why I couldn't comment on my fellow Blogger's Challenge girls cards from last Friday. We also had to go to Costco (never a fun trip) to get Emma's passport photo taken so we can go stand in line for 3 hours tomorrow in DC at the passport office - or she doesn't go on the cruise with us. And, at 10 pm last night, Mark was trying to help me film my first video tutorial for the ol' blog here. All I can say is that we should have started earlier! hahaha!
Ah well, one really good thing did happen yesterday - Mark ordered our new gazebo for the deck and it's going to be delivered on Monday! Doin' the happy dance! :)

More good news too, my Dad came home from the hospital Sunday night! He still needs the surgery, but they are waiting up to 8 weeks to do it so his heart will get stronger, but since he had started taking food by mouth on Saturday, they thought he would rest better at home! Definitely a Praise God kind of Day! Thanks again for all the prayers sent our way!

Today's card was inspired by three things - the Saturday Sketch Challenge at Stamping 411, the Color Combination Challenge at Just Add Ink and the Late Night Stampers Sympathy card challenge. Here is my card that meets all three challenges:

I saw this color combo on another blog I visit and was intrigued by it since these are colors I rarely work with together - especially the Cameo Coral. But I was really happy with how the final project came together, soft, earthy and subtle.

Here is a close up of the masked focal point image:

I stamped the cross from Refuge and Strength first, then masked it with a post it note mask, stamping over it with the daffodil from Abundant Hope in Blush Blossom ink.
The cardstock layers are Very Vanilla, Blush Blossom, Vellum Cardstock, Cameo Coral, Close to Cocoa and Kraft.
Here's a close up of the greeting:

I used Cameo Coral to stamp the greeting from Teeny Tiny wishes, adding a piece of daffodil to the left side of the greeting stamped in more Blush Blossom. All the cardstock layers including the greeting were sponged with Blush Blossom ink for a subtle shading effect. I used Kraft Taffeta ribbon for that element and the greeting is popped up on Stampin' Dimensionals. After I finished the card, it still needed something and bling just didn't belong on a sympathy card, so I used my Color Spritzer tool with the Close to Cocoa marker and added the speckles - all better!

So hey, about that video tutorial - ya'll have been asking me about tying those bows I've been doing lately, so THAT is what the video is about. We are going to try and post it tomorrow - it needs editing, trust me! And just go easy on me, ok? It's my first one!

Have a great day everyone and I'll see you tomorrow!
~~Robin