Get Well Card in Neutrals

I don't know about you, but I've had a run on my 'get well' cards lately.  I don't have any left, so it was necessary to get some made quickly.  Since I've been sending cards to both men and women lately, I was trying to make some cards that would work for either.  That is, until I have time to make more specific cards.  At least that was my idea.  Usually, neutrals work quite well for both, so that was my starting point.  I hadn't used the Artistically Inked stamp set in a long while, and the flowers weren't too over the top feminine.  Let's go with that and see where it ends up.

The base of this card is Crumb Cake cut at 8 1/2" x 5 1/2", then scored and folded in half.  I had a 2 3/4" x 4" piece of Basic White just hanging out on my desk, so that is what I used.  The large flower from Artistically Inked was stamped with Crumb Cake ink on the two opposite corners.  Both of them were positioned partially off the white cardstock.  

On a scrap paper, I tested a couple of green colors for leaves and So Saffron for the flower center.   I didn't care for the center stamped in, so it's left plain on this one.  Pear Pizzazz was chosen as the color for the leaves.  There are four sets of two leaves each stamped around the flowers.  Some of these are 2nd generation stamped.  (This is when you ink up a stamp and stamp twice without re-inking in between.)

To make this very soft pastel design stand out, it was layered onto a Basic Black cardstock piece cut 3" x 4 1/4".  This gives such a nice bold frame around the stamped layer and defines it from the card base.  All those soft neutrals needed a bold pop of black to offset them.  

For the sentiment, the Inspired Thoughts stamp set in the Annual Catalog has some words that worked well here.  They are stamped on a Basic White 1/2" strip.  After stamping the words with Memento Tuxedo Black ink, the strips were cut down to 2 1/2" long.  It was layered onto a Basic Black strip that's 3/4" x 2 3/4".  

At this time, I played with the stamped layer and the sentiment to see how to place it onto the card base.  The stamped layer was attached with Dimensionals a little to the left and down from the center point.  The sentiment was attached over this with Dimensionals on the left, and double-layering the Dimensioinals on the right so it lays flat.

Three of the Classic Matte Dots in black (from the January - June Mini Catalog pg. 59) were added to the card for extra interest.  

The inside of the card has a layer of Basic White.  The same flower was stamped on two opposite corners with Crumb Cake ink, but this time they were off-stamped once to create a much softer color.  The leaves were stamped with Pear Pizzazz ink and were also off-stamped.  The effect is just gorgeous.  Unfortunately, it was so soft looking that I couldn't get a decent picture to show it off!

I made a second card with the same colors but with a different size of Basic White cardstock because it was already cut.  Then I went ahead and made one with Rococo Rose.  Remember that color from last year's In Colors?  It was one of my all-time favorite colors and was fun to use again.   I think it turned out just gorgeous and hope you like it too.

That's it for today's posting.  Hope you enjoyed the idea and see how easily it is to adapt to different sizes of the focal layer.  Each of the cards were made the way they were because of a piece of Basic White cardstock that was left-over from a different project.  

I didn't use anything from the Sale-a-bration brochure today.  I guess I'll have to work on something tomorrow using those fun free items before Sale-a-bration is a thing of the past.  Remember, it ends with the end of February.  So if you've been thinking about ordering, don't wait too long.  When these freebies are gone, that's it.  They won't be coming back.

Have fun creating something new and unique!

Sharon