Hayfever Crafting

Well, today was raining.  Actually it was a day fit only for a fish!!! For some reason my hayfever went ballistic this morning and I am basically surviving with a tissue stuffed up one nostril to keep it from continuously dripping... YUCK!!  Despite the rain and the sniffles, we ran errands, got soaked and so I returned to my craft table, where I should have stayed all day, for a little tlc.

Can I tell you how much I am loving all this distressing stuff I bought my last trip to the Scrapbox?   It was so much fun I will be attending church tomorrow with blue fingertips.  LOL... Even though they will notice, no one would ever ask...

My first creation today was a sympathy card for our church organist/choir director who recently lost his mother.  He is a wonderful man with a great sense of style so I wanted the sympathy card to reflect his unique persona. 

I started with my SU Very Versatile stamp set.  I really like this little sprig of flowers just because its so clean and simple.  I stamped the image on SU confetti white card stock.  Then I took my Ranger distress ink in Broken China and rubbed it across the bottom third of the card stock.  Then I took a couple of drops of my SU Bashful Blue reinker on a wedge of sponge and rubbed that back and forth across the middle third of the card stock.  Then I flipped the sponge over and rubbed the residual ink that had bled through it acoss the top third.  Once this was complete I took my Glimmer Mist in Cranberry Zing and gave the card stock one light  spritz.  The great thing about distress ink is that water can completely change the way it looks.  I flicked the card stock a couple of times with wet finger tips and voila. 

I matted the image with SU Pacific Point, Elegant Eggplant, and Perfect Plum with dimensionals underneath the Pacific Point Layer and the Perfect Plum.  Then I stamped the sentiment on a separate little piece of confetti white and adhered with my tombo. 

I think it's just beautiful.  It is a LOT more clean and simple that my usual creations.

And onto the more ornate.  I have become a bit obsessed with glimmer mist and masking.  This next card started because I HAD to play with how I could layer glimmer mist, distress ink and Ranger Perfect Pearls over each other...

Sorry the picture is so dark... I have limited graphics software at my fingertips and it's getting late.

This card has a pocket in the front that is made by only sticking down the very bottom and sides of the dark purple panel to the front of the card. The base of the card is SU Rose Red with the Bella Toile background stamp added with Versamark.  The entire card base is spritzed with Perfect Pearls in Blush mixed with water in a mini-mister.  The front panel is Elegant Eggplant spritzed with the Perfect Pearls in Blush as well.   Ribbon is from the retired SU Beach Front originals.  Flowers are from Prima and are paper. 

The tag that is stuck inside the panel is what inspired this card.  Here's a close up of the tag...

Call you see all those beautiful swirls and vines?  I applied a few layers of glimmer mist and heated each one to help them dry.  Then I used a Tim Holtz mini mask and rubbed distress ink in Broken China over each section as I moved the mask.  Then  I spritz the tag with Perfect Pearls in Blush for extra sparkle.

Whew... that was fun... I don't think I'll have more time to craft tomorrow... but I better get cracking because my wedding anniversary is Wednesday and I have NO clue what kind of card I'm going to make my hubby.

TTYL