The theme for this month is “sympathy.” Being in nature is comforting to me, so that’s what I wanted to portray in this sympathy card. Once again, the Woodland Embossing folder comes into play.

I chose Always Artichoke as the card base color for its woodsy feel, and Sahara Sand for embossing with the Woodland folder. I cut the embossed trees in two, making the right side shorter, and raised them on Foam Adhesive Strips for dimension.

The leaves are my favorite part of this project. I don’t know who originally thought of this technique, but I learned it from Robin Daus at the recent “Create the Day Away” in San Diego. You start with a piece of Glossy White cardstock (p. 194, Annual Catalog), ink re-fills in the colors you want to use, cotton ball, alcohol, and an old, soft cloth.

Saturate the cotton with alcohol, then drop spots of ink onto the cotton. I used Real Red, Daffodil Delight and Sahara Sand. Leave a bit of space between the dots, because they’ll blend together soon enough. Next, pat the inked cotton all over the Glossy cardstock. Here’s where you use the old cloth: place it on top of your art piece allowing it to absorb moisture, lift, and rub it around. You can leave it alone at this point, or add more color.

You can use the entire piece as a background, but I used the leaf die from Eclectic layers to cut the three sections of leaves for this project. I like that it’s different every time you do it, and the shine from the Glossy cardstock makes it extra special. 

My favorite die cut from Bunch of Banners provided the “home” for my sentiment, “I’m here for you.”  I found this in the Weather Together stamp set, and I stamped it in Always Artichoke to match the card base.

The inside sentiment is from the Thoughts and Prayers stamp set, and the most important part of this card.

I used the same Eclectic leaf die on the inside, and embossed the flap of the envelope with the Woodland folder.

 Thank you so much for visiting my blog!