Quiet Cards

With the recent passing of two family members and seeing some lovely sympathy cards posted on blogs, I decided to re-evaluate my reluctance to make grief cards. Usually my cards have too much bling and too many embellishments to be dignified cards. I decided to challenge myself and create a 'quiet card'. Here's what I made. I thought the calming colors of lavender and white would be suitable for a sympathy card so I used paper from a pack of Japanese stationery (from the new Celebrations store) and a pearlized white blank card. The new Hero Arts set (sold at Ben Franklin Crafts) with stamps and matching embossing folder seemed perfect for a background. I stamped the floral design in white ink and heat embossed it with white opaque embossing powder. Next I dry embossed the design using the folder that comes in the set. Then I stamped in lavender ink a floral spray and blank label (from another Hero Arts set) onto white card stock. I heat embossed the stamped designs with clear embossing powder. The words were stamped in the label with gold ink and embossed with gold embossing powder. The label and floral spray were die cut using the thin Sizzix die that comes with the stamp set. Using Merikan tape and pop dots under the floral spray the card was assembled as shown in the photo. (Sorry that the photos have so much glare; I couldn't seem to cut it down.) As a final touch and due to my inability to omit a teensy bit of bling, I added the tiny sparkly flower. I hope you enjoy seeing my attempt at making a 'quiet card'. Please visit again to see more of how I try to live a creative life.