Stampin’ Up! Greatest Greetings Rainbow Kitty Sympathy Card

Good morning!  Wow – this was a gorgeous day here in Atlanta (I’m typing this on Saturday night)!  The past two days of rain and stormy weather that signaled the passage of a cold front left the air sparkling and (momentarily!) pollen-less-than-normal (not pollen-free but at least we’ve been able to have a few windows open today!)!  The dogwood trees and azaleas are going crazy – we only have a few that the previous owners planted – but everywhere you drive are mounds and mounds of azaleas in every color!  They’re so spectacular they’ll almost literally make you gasp when you round a curve in the road and see them.  Here’s a picture of one of my little ones –

Now, imagine that about 10 times bigger and in a group of about a hundred!  All enmass under tall pine trees.  Yes, that’s how folk plant them here and it’s magnificent!  If I’d been smart and planted one a year since we moved here…I’d have my very own breathtaking display.  As it is…I look at my meager group and go out of my way to drive down roads where I know I’ll see them!

I’ve spent too much time the past couple of days trying to make a card that can come close to echoing the colors of the azaleas….I have yet to be successful. 🙁

So, the card I have to share with you today is a sympathy card for the loss of a pet.  My friend needed one for her friend who, apparently, had a mama kitty who had trouble delivering a litter – and lost all the babies. 🙁 That’s a pretty sad thing.  So….she asked me to make a card to send.  I used a non-Stampin’ Up! kitty image – and combined it with the rainbow-building swath image from Over the Rainbow.  My sentiment is from the ever-handy Greatest Greetings and I also added some of the very pretty flowers from the Number of Years stamp set.  It’s easy to forget how pretty those flowers are – the number images pretty much steal the show!  But…take a look-see:

I played along with two challenges again on this card.  The first, Mojo Monday #441, inspired the layout:

…and it was handy that there was a Theme challenge featuring Rainbows – Sunday Stamps Challenge #123!

Any animal lover knows the story of the Rainbow Bridge, so rainbows feature pretty prominently when I make a pet sympathy card….

I started building the card front by embossing a piece of Whisper White card stock in the Happy Hearts TIEF.  Then I cut it to size and SNAILd it over a full-size piece of English Garden DSP.  I ran a length of Wild Wasbi 1/2″ Seam Binding Ribbon down the seam, securing it in the back with scotch tape.

I SNAILd the panel to a Blushing Bride mat and began on the art work.  The rainbow is built with the swath image from Over the Rainbow.  It’s a photopolymer set, so it was easy to line up and stamp without needing to pull out my Stamp-A-Ma-Jig.  I modified the colors of the rainbow to more subtle colors to go along with my palette.  From the top:  Blushing Bride, Pumpkin Pie (stamped off once on scrap paper first), So Saffron, Pear Pizzazz, Soft Sky and Wild Wasabi.  That panel, too, is SNAILd on a mat of Blushing Bride and then SNAILd onto the card front.

For the little kitty, I inked the stamp with Tuxedo Black Memento Ink and stamped it off once before stamping it on Whisper White.  Then I cut it out with my Circles Collection framelits.  I made a little Sticky Note mask – stamping the kitty on a Sticky Note, with the top of the image “in” the sticky part – and then fussy cutting it.  I stuck my mat over top of the stamped image, and then was able to easily stamp the leaves and stems from Number of Years in Pear Pizzazz where I wanted them. I also added some of the flowers in Blushing Bride.

I drew a little halo with my Gold Wink of Stella Glitter Brush and then matted him on a Blushing Bride circle punched with my 2 1/2″ Circle Punch.  I popped him on the rainbow panel with Stampin’ Dimensionals.

For the sentiment, I decided to use some Whisper White 5/8″ Satin Ribbon as the mat for the banner, so I cut the ends on an angle.  I repeated that angle on the strip of Blushing Bride card stock that I cut for the banner.  I stamped the Greatest Greetings sentiment in Old Olive.  A little Multi-Purpose Liquid Glue adhered the sentiment to its ribbon mat and then I popped it on the card front with Stampin’ Dimensionals.  It took a double thickness – tiny! – piece of Stampin’ Dimensional under the left side of the banner – to compensate for the thickness of the various layers under it.

I stuck a Gold Basic Metal Button on the side of the banner with a Glue Dot and adhered a double Gold Metallic Thread bow to the button with a dab of Liquid Glue.  A few little Pearl Basic Jewels around the kitty completed the card front!

I left the Whisper White inside blank, just adding some more of the Number of Years flowers in Pear Pizzazz and Blushing Bride.

I SNAILd it to a Blushing Bride mat and into my Pear Pizzazz card base – and did the same with the card front.

For the envelope, I added another set of Number of Years flowers to the front of a Whisper White Medium Envelope…

…and made a liner with more of the English Garden DSP, cutting it with my Envelope Liner Framelits.

Et Voila!  A sweet card to share in someone’s loss.  Those of us who’ve been owned by animals understand the pain their loss brings – so I hope this card will bring a little smile at a hard time. 🙂

Have a great rest-of-your-weekend and I’ll see you tomorrow!

TTFN!

Mary

HOST CODE FOR 1 APR – 15 APR 16: FJJRBUGX

Use this host code when you order and receive a free gift from me! But, if your order is over $150, please don’t use this code (you’ll miss out on your own Stampin’ Rewards if you use it) but you’ll still get the free gift. The free gift is your choice of any item valued up to $8.00 in the 2015-16 Annual Catalog or the 2015 Occasions Catalog.

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STAMPIN’ UP! PRODUCTS USED IN TODAY’S CARD 

I got the Kitty stamp from Michaels!

CARD CUTS USED IN TODAY’S PROJECT

Pear Pizzazz Card Stock: 4 1/4″ x 11″ (card base, scored and folded at 5 1/2″)

Whisper White Card Stock: 2 1/2″ x 5 1/4″ (embossed panel on card front); 2 3/8″ Circle (art piece);  4″ x 5 1/4″ (inner liner)

Blushing Bride Card Stock: 4 1/8″ x 5 3/8″ (card front mat and inner liner mat); 2 1/2″ Circle (mat for art circle); 1/2″ x 3″ (sentiment banner)

English Garden DSP: 4″ x 5 1/4″ (card front – partially covered by embossed white panel); envelope liner

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2014-2016 In Color Supplies

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