Weeds & More

 I have a couple of sympathy cards to show you today.  Like everyone else, I hate making these and I always put it off and never have any on hand.  I really dislike making them when I 'need' one so I thought making them ahead of time might take some of that pressure/stress off.  The funny thing is that most often when a sympathy card is needed, I go buy one yet I know from experience that I cherish the handmade cards I received.  I am going to try to make more so I have some on hand.
Chelsea from The Paper Trail sent me a set of stamps called Weeds & More by Stacy Stamps. This set has three separate stamps and I've used two of them.  Great quality stamps made out of deeply etched rubber and you get such a crisp image each time.  In addition to the stamps, she also sent me an ink pad of Hero Arts Wet Cement which I used on the card above.  Below, I used Memento's Espresso Truffle which I use on nearly everything I stamp.  I also like the Memento Black but the Truffle is a little more subtle and I love the colour.  I wanted to compare the inks and yes, you do get a different look with each.  I liked the Hero Arts because it gives more of a watercolour look when you stamp it and the Memento is crisper and clearer.

With both images, I stamped the faded areas by first stamping the image on a scrap piece of paper and then on the cardstock and then one crisp one with lots of ink.  The sentiments on both cards are from Stampin' Up's Close as a Memory set.  I sponged in a little of Tim Holtz's Tumbled Glass Distress Ink on the dandelion image and added some Shabby Blue Frantage.  I used Shabby White Frantage for the top card.  That's it... the cards were very simple to make and took maybe 20 minutes each.
Thanks for stopping by and have a great week!
Challenges:
Sister Act - Anything Goes
Charisma Cardz - Anything Goes