Thinking of you....

When friends or family members are struggling with personal or family issues or health problems, a card is a tangeible reminder of your love and concern. This card is a non-traditional size (6 inches high and 8 inches wide) which means either a handmade envelope or a bubble wrap mailer. I chose the latter when I mailed this card out, and I wrapped the card in a piece of tissue paper before inserting it into the mailer. Little touches like that add so much to the presentation.

Silk flowers can be used in place of paper flowers for a stunning effect. I used one blossom from this cluster of chrysanthemums to create the flowers on this page.

Separated into layers and then reassembled into individual blooms with ornate centers (brads) gave me the opportunity to use flowers in a color that was a perfect match to the other elements of the card.

Simply pull a flower off the stem, then separate the plastic pieces that hold the petals in place. In the case of these chrysanthemums, it was easy to just snip the little plastic ring and pull it away and then the petals slid right off. I layered two of the individual petal segments and used large vintage brads as flower centers.

The leaves can also be pulled off the wire stems and the little plastic stem sections that hold them in place can be trimmed off. In this cluster of flowers, there are many small leaves, but you can also trim and shape the larger leaves as well.

I love using dark card stock as a foundation for my cards but if you do, you really need to layer a panel for the inside of the card to make it easy to add a handwritten greeting.

I used scraps of card stock and patterned paper to stamp an encouraging message, trimmed with a small piece of punched lace edging, and mounted it on one side of the lighter card stock panel so that I could add a handwritten note as well.

Materials Needed for This Card:
Ink: Versamark; Amethyst Pearlustre embossing powder (Stampendous)
Paper: Card Stock, lavender/gray and purple (Core’Dinations); Patterned Paper, "Wisteria" (Basic Grey)
Stamps: I Care (Daisy Bucket); Shine on You #N035 (Stampendous)
Accessories: Sheer purple ribbon (Morex, from Michael’s); Purple silk flowers (on clearance at JoAnn Fabrics); Vintage brads (Making Memories); Lace edge punch (Martha Stewart)