More Cards to Share,,,,

 It seems the older I get, the more I am making get well and sympathy cards.  And maybe that's not true - perhaps the numbers have not changed all that much, but they are certainly impacting me more!

Some dear friends in northern CA lost a family member recently.  It was not totally unexpected, but no matter how old you are or how prepared you "think" you are, it is always difficult to lose a parent.
They have been so grounding most of our lives and it throws off the balance of our world for a time being and pushes us up into that role of Matriarch or Patriarch, depending.  I don't think we are ever ready for that. I know I wasn't.

This was a simple card - basically it's a reverse stencil that I cut out of the background rather than using the individual pieces.  It gives the look of an inlaid design and I like that.  I just wanted them to know that they were in my thoughts and prayers.

My neighbors are having an extended stay next door.  They have been living in the condo while he recovers from foot surgery.  They have a huge beautiful home not far from here, but it is three stories so staying in the condo with one level and elevator access to it from the garage, makes this the perfect place for healing! He has had complications, so their stay here has been extended. I am not complaining because I enjoy having someone next door.

I used the FoilMaster to craft his get well card and, as usual, I am now looking at new fun ways to use foil. Be prepared to see more of it because I am loving the look of it and between the laser printer and the FoilMaster, they are providing great results.  Photographing it is challenging...the colors are so beautiful.

This is a simple leaf pattern from a stencil that I printed on a  laser

monoprinter.  The intensity of the black is stronger and gives better foiling results, 

especially when I print at 1200 dpi.

Now you can see how beautiful the colors of the watercolor foil are - 

so many soft shades of green.  You have to catch it in the right light 

and then the colors come to life!

Another angle shows a wider variety of colors.

 An embossed "frame" made it complete.

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And Even MORE Summer Cards.....

It has been quite a month for card making! And there are still more on my to do list.

Love the soft colors with the vibrant flower.  Dominic's files cut beautifully.

The first card  is another birthday card.  The file is from Crafty Vectors (Dominic) and those of you who know me know I love his files.  Each of his beautiful floral designs have options to make several different cards.  I am partial to the flower in frame design because it just looks so clean and finished.  And his files are so well made that I can always use the remaining pieces to create another card.  That's a win-win!

And the second card was for my daughter in law.  She has been a special education teacher , served the past two years as an assistant principal, and was just promoted to principal of a new school that she helped open two years ago.  This is such a well-deserved honor (albeit an increased work load) but she has worked hard for this and I am so happy for her.  The teachers and children are the real winners here.

You can see the detail of those tiny circle patterns here - so perfect!

So I wanted to make her a card to express how happy I am for her.  This was from a jpeg online that I used as a sort of stencil, cutting the design out of the card front and letting the contrasting color shine through.  Gold stars were popped over the larger stars to give it some dimension .  It's really a simple card, but I love how it came out.

Added some gold stars a little off-centered from the red star background. 

Gold dots are brads with the ends snipped off.

Congratulations is P-Touch labeler TZ tape in gold.

And here is one more birthday card - with a simple birthday wish. This was also a stencil image that I created with a shadow image, tied the flower with simple variegated floss, and added some clear dew drops to add a little interest.  The Happy Birthday was printed through SCAL and then cut out using a tag from the software library.  Remember, when you do a print and cut, be sure to hide the text layer while cutting out the shape or this will happen!!

This is what happens when you forget to "hide" the text layer -

the machine sees it as a font that needs to be cut! Totally user error!

This was a silly mistake, but one I seem to make repeatedly when I haven't done print and cut in a while.  And even though I didn't mean for it to happen, look at the detail of the cuts (before I stopped them!)  My Silver Bullet continues to delight me with its ability to do whatever I ask of it - even if it's ultimately the wrong thing!

And here is the end result when I pay attention to what I am doing!

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