Sympathy card - three ways

I sent this card to the daughter and family.  The stamp set is from Papertray Ink (PTI).  It's more complicated than I realized - but it does work rather well.  

In this try I had some trouble with the leaves.  But it just makes it look more watercolored or something - the overall effect is still great.  I sent this one as a thank you to the person who took us to/from the airport.

This one is possibly my favorite even though it was the first one.  I made this one a variation by extending the leaves on the right hand side.  This variation was encouraged by a blob of yellow ink on the card front that I needed to hide.  Inside the sentiment is "Be Brave".  I absolutely love the large silk ribbon.  

Next Open Stamping technique

I'm using the stamp of the month for April for the Open Stamping on 4/28.  This will be the last one before I travel up to Minnesota.  I'm hoping to see my friends one more time before I go!  

I stamped and heat embossed on vellum for the butterflies.  Then I colored them with the Shin Han (alcohol) markers and cut them out.  They were adhered to the card front with just a sliver of tape adhesive under the center of the body so that the wings could be lifted.  The stamp set also had a nifty, small diagonal stripe border that I stamped in three different colors.  I added a small twine to cover up the small gap between the Blossom and Sugarplum borders.  The thanks is also in the same stamp set and I used Bluebird, but will use Carolina next time since it's just a little softer.  

Hope you like it!  

We were in a death-watch for several weeks and finally went to the funeral (Steve performed with the Bishop of New Hampshire).  It was a very close friend of Steve's (50+ years) and his family was there.  I feel so close to his widow, Susanne.  She is one of those people who make you feel instantly loved.  Our time together this visit was short, but we packed in a lot of story telling and as much laughter as possible.  

As always, it's good to be home.

Kitty sitters thank you note

The children across the street agreed to be my kitty sitters over the 6 days we were gone for a funeral.  I made a quick card with a fluffy image of a cat - and tucked some money inside for them.  I wrote the card as if I was Bilbo (my kitty) so it's really very cute!  

Stamps are from CTMH, but the gingham paper is Doodlebug.