Hearts Come Home Sympathy

For today’s card I chose to use the Hearts Come Home bundle, which is a Christmas bundle. However, I think it is appropriate for a sympathy card as well.

This is the third iteration of this card, as the first two had major design flaws. I wanted to use the inlay technique and it wasn’t going well. I typically design as I go, with a germ of an idea in mind when I begin. Sometimes the logistics of what I want to do simply do not work!

I began by cutting two panels of Whisper White card stock, one to paint and one to leave white and cut out. Well, actually, both are cut as you will see.

Using Pacific Point, Perfect Plum, Garden Green and Berry Burst I sponged one of the panel, starting with the Pacific point at the bottom, blending as I moved up, and ending with the Berry Burst at the top.

I thought the horizon (the edge of the snow) should be slightly below the halfway mark. I die cut the Whisper White panel first, then, laying the upper portion over the sponged panel, I lined up the die so they would match perfectly. I then cut the sponged panel, carefully removing it from the Big Shot so that all the little pieces would remain in the die.

The sponged sky and the white lower portion were taped together (perfect fit!) on the back to hold them in place, then I placed a layer of Multipurpose Adhesive Sheets to the back of this inlaid panel. This adhesive sheet is necessary for all the window and door details to stick into their respective holes. This will be adhered to the card base. Now for the tricky part.

I positioned the die (with the sponged cut out still in the die) over the white die cut and, using my paper piercing tool, pushed out the small bits and pieces and down into the openings.

After lifting off the die, most of the details were left on the white cut out, more or less in the place where they belonged. I simply used the paper piercing tool to finish the job. They stick nicely to the Adhesive Sheet. The ones that didn’t come out on the first try, did on the second.

The sentiment, from the now retired Strength and Prayers stamp set, was stamped in the ‘snow’ in Night of Navy. Then I peeled off the backing from the Multipurpose Adhesive Sheet and stuck the finished panel to the Night of Navy card base.

For the inside, I sponged another panel of Whisper White for the mat, and stamped my sentiment on a liner of Whisper White. This sentiment is from the Thoughts and Prayers stamp set, as is the tree. Both are stamped in Night of Navy. This is my ‘go to’ stamp set for sympathy cards. The liner was adhered to the sponged mat and into the card base with Liquid Glue.

In looking again at the front, I decided it needed a little something. Hmmm. Stars? Using the stamp from Night in Bethlehem, I stamped it once in Versamark and heat set the Silver Embossing Powder with my heat tool. I did not use the Embossing Buddy, so there are some little sprinkles of silver among the stars, which I rather like.

For the envelope, I used the tree stamp from the Hearts Come Home bundle to stamp a row across the bottom front in Night of Navy.

For the flap, I used the silicone rubber mat and impressions pad (sizzix accessory) to use the die to emboss the design. It did cut a little, as the envelope is not as thick as card stock, but didn’t cut through enough to ruin the flap. I also stamped some stars in the blank upper right side to finish it.

Once I worked out the bugs, this was an easy card to do. I like this technique so much, I think I will make a Christmas card with it! I hope you try it. Please leave comments or questions below.

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Card Cuts: Night of Navy: card base 5-1/2″ x 8-1/2″ scored at 4-1/4″; Whisper White: cut 3 (two to sponge, one to die cut) 4″ x 5-1/4″, inside liner 3-1/2″ x 4-3/4″

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