I wanted to start by saying a big thank you to Sandi MacIver for mentioning my blog and pointing so many people in my direction.  And thanks to all of you who’ve left me so many nice comments on my projects and who’ve signed on to follow me as I try to get my blog up and rolling.  I’ll try my best to keep you all interested!

Unfortunately, I needed to make a couple of sympathy cards.  My brother-in-law’s brother unexpectedly passed away yesterday and I made these cards for my brother-in-law and his parents.

Here is the list of products that you will need to make this card:

• Lovely as a Tree (115026 wood, 127793 clear)
• Love & Sympathy (122795 wood, 122797 clear)
• Woodgrain Textured Impressions Embossing Folder (127821)
• Early Espresso Core’dinations Card Stock (127848)
• Stampin’ Sanding System (129367)
• Early Espresso Classic Stampin’ Pad (126974)
• Soft Suede Classic Stampin’ Pad (126978)
• Early Espresso Card Stock (119686)
• Soft Suede Card Stock (115318)
• Stamping Sponges (101610)
• Stampin’ Dimensionals (104430)

I started by embossing the Core’dinations panel with the Woodgrain Embossing Folder and sanding the raised pieces.  Then I stamped the tree image and sentiment and sponged the edges in Early Espresso ink.  I added a single leaf image in Soft Suede ink to the sentiment.  I trimmed the images and cut a layer of Early Espresso Card Stock to fit behind each stamped image.  Then I distressed the edges of all 4 pieces by dragging my scissors across them several times.  To finish off the images, I slide the edges across my Early Espresso inkpad and adhered them to the layered Early Espresso pieces.  I adhered the tree image directly to the background panel and I adhered the sentiment with Stampin’ Dimensionals to the background panel.  Finally, I adhered everything to a Soft Suede card base.

Here is the list of products that you will need to make this card:

• Love & Sympathy (122795 wood, 122797 clear)
• Labels Collection Framelits (125598)
• Marina Mist (119679) & Certainly Celery (105106) Stampin’ Write Markers
• Crumb Cake Classic Stampin’ Pad (126975)
• Whisper White Card Stock (100730)
• Marina Mist Card Stock (119682)
• Stampin’ Dimensionals (104430)

I started by coloring the flower image with my Certainly Celery and Marina Mist Markers and stamped it on a 3.75” x 5” piece of Whisper White Card Stock.  Then I stamped the sentiment in Crumb Cake next to the flower.  Next I cut the Marina Mist Card Stock layer to 3.75” x 5” and I cut the center out using the 3^rd Labels Collection Framelit.  Then I cut the Whisper White layer to 4” x 5.25” and cut the center of that layer with the 4^th Label Framelit.  Then I adhered the Marina Mist Card Stock cut out directly to the stamped image and I adhered the Whisper White cut out to the Marina Mist layer with Stampin’ Dimensionals.  To finish the card, I adhered the layers to a Whisper White card base using Stampin’ Dimensionals around the edges and SNAIL on the back of the stamped image.

I hope that everyone who is celebrating Thanksgiving this weekend has a safe and enjoyable time.  In between the eating and shopping, I’m hoping to get a little stamping with my sister who will be in town for the holiday.

And if you want to skip those long lines and crazy shoppers on Black Friday, don’t forget about the Online Extravaganza!

The Online Extravaganza is going on right now through November 28.  This is the biggest online sale of the year!  Discounts range from 20%-50%.  For a list of the items on sale, click here.

Plus, I’m offering an EXTRAVAGANZA ORDERING BONUS!!!  You can earn a free item for every $50 that you spend in my online store.  For all of the details click on my Rewards tab above or click here for a link to my Rewards page and scroll down toward the bottom.