Finished - Promise

Hello everyone,

I love a four-day weekend. Friday was chores, chores, chores and the remainder of the weekend was family time, a bit of visiting and the rest was pure, unadulterated card making time. I'm a lucky and very happy lady!

I think (think) that the next three cards really do use up the last of my unfinished project bits. It must have been providence that Friday's Everything Old Is New Again challenge was to finish projects. I also seem to have a bit of a spring cleaning bug because I can't remember when last I was so productive. When I was much, much younger, my family referred to it as Gisèle going Tazmanian. Allison, I promise, even if I find more old project pieces, that I'm moving on to new cards this afternoon.

As I SPI followers are aware, I'm always in need of sympathy cards. My sister, who was visiting this weekend, grabbed a few from my stash, so I'm replenishing. The image is one of the 'mistakes' from my Sweet Sunday Yet Again Birthday card from last week. In the clear light of day, I found that though not 100% perfect, some of the images were still very usable.

The image is Stamp Barn (for Heather's Stamping Haven) Enchanted Hollow stamped with the watercolour crayon and watercolour paper technique that I'm so 'enchanted' with at the moment. The background paper is Close To My Heart Cocoa textured with Sizzix Harlequin. The patterned paper is scrap Close To My Heart Everyday Celebration kit. The navy blue layer (lovely and subtly textured) was discovered in the paper stash and is of unknown origin. The white elements are watercolour paper scraps. The sentiment is Verve Forever In Our Hearts.

I'm very pleased with this card. The navy paper was a real find, it is lovely and unfortunately I have only one sheet. I love how all the harlequin diamonds relate and turns this into a great card.

This second sympathy card uses another watercolour technique 'mistake' from last Sunday. The background paper is Stampin' Up Sweet Pea paired with Always Artichoke and Chocolate Chip which were textured with the Cuttlebug Houndstooth dry embossing folder. The sentiment is Verve Forever In Our Hearts. The ribbon is Home and More from Michael's.

I love this card! It was wonderful to pair up all the houndstooth. The ribbon is one of those buys that I just couldn't resist when I saw it in the bin. A very simple and very effective sympathy card.

As my daughter and I critiqued this card, we decided it could be a wedding card or a baby card. There is not one piece of new paper on this card. The focal layer, is part of my Verve Filigree Fantasy and Stampin' Up Whisper White ink practise pieces. I couldn't decide to use as a focal element or a background layer. Once I added the dollar store gems, though, this card just came together. The background layer is of unknown origin from my scrap box and is textured with Sizzix pattern 2. The brown layer is a scrap of Stampin' Up Bella Rose. The striped layer is a scrap of Hot Off The Press Brown and Pink Stripes. The sentiment is Stampin' Up Warm Words stamped on a scrap of Whisper White.

I love the softness of this card. I can't say it enough but kraft paper always, always surprises me. Is there anything that doesn't go with kraft paper? To think I hate it when I look at a blank sheet yet love it when I've got it into a card. Amazing!

I hope you enjoy these last three unfinished projects and come back to SPI again soon.

Gisèle