Flowering Tulips Sympathy Card

Hello, Crafters.

On Monday, I received a telephone call from one of my cousins to let me know his Mum passed away earlier that morning. Although my Auntie had been poorly for quite some time, I was still shocked when the call came through. I was very fond of her and used to enjoy our chats when she called. When I was speaking to my cousin, I didn’t ask any of the questions I’ve thought of since! Auntie H was the last of five siblings which included my Dad. He passed away six years ago aged 94. I’m not sure how old Auntie H was, except to say in her 90’s. This is the reason today’s card is a sympathy card.

I wanted to use the Simply Marbleous Designer Series Paper (DSP) which is currently available as a Sale-a-bration (SAB) gift. This DSP screams luxury to me so if you’d like to get your hands on a pack, don’t leave it too long to shop – SAB ends on 28th February 2022, that is next Monday! At the beginning of this week, I had been playing with the Flowering Tulips Stamp Set for my project for this month’s Create With Us International Team Bundle PDF. This month we are featuring the Flowering Fields Suite.

While I was playing with the two-step stamps, I stamped it in different ways using all three flowers/buds using Real Red Ink. By the time I finished and had decided on the design I like best, I had a pile of reject tulips on my desk which were sorted into two piles i.e. those that survived to see another day and those that went into the bin! I had rescued three of the largest flowers, three of the larger leaves but only one stem. Using Granny Apple Green I stamped three more stems – I only needed 2 – and then die-cut them. It was good that I had stamped three because the die jumped when I was die-cutting the first image; that leaf went into the bin. I used Washi tape to hold the next two in place and they were die-cut beautifully.

Today’s card is 7″ x 5″ but this design will fit on an regular 4⅛” x 5¾” (10.5cm x 14.6cm) US 4¼” x 5½”  size card. Obviously the images will be closer together and I think it might be better to use the smaller leaves and trim the stems a little bit. The sentiment I have used, THINKING OF YOU WITH SYMPATHY AND PRAYERS will fit all three of these cards; it’s 3¾” long. It’s from the Many Messages Stamp Set which is the original “background” stamp that has a matching die to die-cut all the sentiments in one go! I bought this stamp set when it was first launched, way back when, but this is the first time I have used it!

The size of the Basic White Cardstock (CS) middle layers for my card are 6¼” x 4¼” and the top DSP layer is 6″ x 4″. These sizes leave a wider than normal edging all round but they do allow me to use my 6″ x 6″ packs of DSP as well as the 6″ x 4″ Abstract Beauty Pack of DSP. I will put the measurements for all three cards below my signature. The 7″ x 5″ size is a standard worldwide size and it is very easy to buy 7″ x 5″ envelopes unless you prefer to make your own. I adhered all the elements to the front of my card using Dimensionals but I used a double layer for the sentiment.

As this card is for my personal use, I chose a sentiment for inside my card from a retired stamp set called Trust God. It reads TRUST IN THE LORD WITH ALL YOUR HEART AND LEAN NOT ON YOUR OWN UNDERSTANDING. This is one of my favourite verses from the bible which I think suits all occasions. I used my Stamparatus to stamp the sentiment and then adhered the layer inside the card. Just for once, I remembered I was making a landscape card and stamped my verse in the right direction! LOL! After I had adhered the layer inside my card, I adhered a stamped, die-cut tulip in the bottom right-hand corner.

I didn’t add any glitter, ribbon or bling to my card. It’s one of the things I’m very old-fashioned about; I think sympathy cards should be very sedate! This is the first time ever that I have actually used a bright colour! I certainly find it helpful when I see other crafters creating sympathy cards in designs that, at one time, I would never have considered! That’s about it for today. I look forward to being back soon and in the meantime, please take care and stay safe. Happy crafting.

JanB. xx

Basic Card Measurements: A4 (Metric) US

Card base 8¼” x 5¾” (21cm x 14.6cm) US 8½” x 5½”

Scored and folded at 4⅛” (10.5cm) US 4¼”

Middle layer: 2 pieces 3⅞” x 5½” (9.9cm x 14cm) US 4” x 5¼”

Top layer: 2 pieces 3¾” x 5⅜” (9.6cm x 13.7cm) US 3⅞” x 5⅛”

7” x 5” Card Measurements

Card base 10” x 7” (25.4cm x 17.8cm)

Scored and folded at 5” (12.7cm)

Middle layer: 2 pieces 6¼” x 4¼” (15.8cm x 10.8cm)

Top layer: 2 pieces 6” x 4” (15.2cm x 10.2cm)

PRODUCTS USED for this project: please click on any of the links to be taken to my 24/7 online Stampin’ Up! shop. The Hostess Code for FEBRUARY 2022 is 2TWMEFUF Thank you. xx

Basic Black A4 Card Stock [121688] £8.25	Basic White A4 Cardstock [159228] £9.00	Simply Marbleous 6″ X 6″ (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper [158128] £0.00	Flowering Tulips Bundle (English) [157678] £49.50	Many Messages Cling Stamp Set [154510] £20.00
Messages Die [154422] £32.00	Real Red Classic Stampin’ Pad [147084] £7.00	Real Red Classic Stampin’ Ink Refill [103287] £3.50	Granny Apple Green Stampin’ Pad [147095] £7.00	Granny Apple Green Classic Stampin’ Ink Refill [147163] £3.50
Night Of Navy Classic Stampin’ Pad [147110] £7.00	Night Of Navy Classic Stampin’ Ink Refill [103033] £3.50	Basic Gray Classic Stampin’ Pad [149165] £7.00	Basic Gray Stampin’ Ink Refill [149166] £3.50	Paper Trimmer [152392] £23.00
Stampin’ Cut & Emboss Machine [149653] £112.00	Simply Shammy [147042] £7.50	Paper Snips [103579] £9.25	Take Your Pick [144107] £9.00	Bone Folder [102300] £6.50
Grid Paper [130148] £11.75	Silicone Craft Sheet [127853] £5.50	Multipurpose Liquid Glue [154974] £4.50	Tear & Tape Adhesive [138995] £6.50	Stampin’ Dimensionals [104430] £3.75
Mini Stampin’ Dimensionals [144108] £3.75