Expressions in Blue {You are so Wonderful}

Hello and welcome! I'm sharing these cards over on the Pinkfresh Studio Blog today, but wanted to share them here as well! I'm having so much fun with all of the amazing new products from the latest release! I'm smitten with all of the inks that were released at the end of last year, but haven't really dived into the "blues", so for today's cards, I wanted to use some of the beautiful shades that Pinkfresh Studio has to offer!

I've created two cards for today's post, with a bonus card at the end, so make sure to scroll all the way to the bottom! This was one of those projects that I just wasn't ready to be done, so I just kept going! Does that ever happen to you?

For my first card, and each of the cards, I used the beautiful new Curvy Floral Vine stamp set stamped in these beautiful blues! To begin, I die cut all of the vines I would need for the 3 cards using the Curvy Floral Vine die. I used my mini MISTI to stamp all of the images: if you're going to stamp 1, you may as well stamp 6 while the images are all set up! LOL! The leaves are stamped in Fresh Pear and Olive ink. The flowers are stamped in Slumber and Blue Jay ink; these two are a match made in heaven!

I did some ink blending around a 4 1/4 by 5 1/2 inch piece of white card stock using Blue Jay ink. Once that was done, I die cut it using the Diagonal Stitched Rectangle dies to give it the beautiful detail around the edge. I like to do the ink blending first, so that the die cutting will remove any harsh lines that may have happened during the ink blending process. I'm getting better and better, but I still have a tendency to mess up here and there and this die cutting tip can certainly help!

I layered the Intricate Mandala onto the blended panel using foam squares and then added the floral pieces using additional foam squares.

The sentiment, which is from the Layered Bouquet stamp set, is heat embossed in gold onto a strip of vellum! I love how soft and ethereal it looks on this design! I also added a few of the beautiful blue Essentials: Jewels here and there for some added sparkle. I was thrilled with how perfectly they complemented the stamped flowers! The entire focal panel is adhered to a top folding A2 card base using foam squares.

My second card uses the same flowers, but arranged in a circle for this design. I layered the Foliage Frame onto a piece of white cardstock that has a hint of Fresh Pear ink around the edges and a bit of ink splatter.  The flowers are added using foam squares and then the "prayers" word, which is from the Phrase Builder: Sending die collection, is added to the center using additional foam squares.

The heat embossed sentiment is from the Leafy Decor stamp set and is adhered to the back of the focal image using clear tape. I added this before I adhered the focal panel to a top folding A2 card base. I used some of the clear Jewels for this card, but you can see the beautiful blue ones in the vial in the bottom right corner of this photo!

I used a specialty gold cardstock that I purchased at Hobby Lobby for the "prayers" word and then layered it onto the "shadow" which is die cut from white cardstock. I used vellum on THESE cards, which I love as well! I used liquid glue to add the gold portion to the white portion.

And this is the bonus card, which is a combination of the first two! Like I mentioned earlier, I just wasn't ready to be done playing with all of these beautiful products. 

I switched up the embossed sentiment; this one is from the Floral Vase stamp set and complements the die cut word nicely. I also added some Shimmer Spray to this card to give it some added sparkle.

I used M Boss gold powder from Imagine Crafts and find that it gives the best results for the nice, raised effect on the sentiments. It plays nicely with the gold sheen of the metallic cardstock.

There's been studies done on which colors evoke different emotions; I try to think of that when creating sympathy cards. While blue seems like it would bring someone "down", I feel like it is a soothing color to provide comfort and peace! What do you think? Do you have a favorite color combination to use on Sympathy cards? I'd love to hear your thoughts! Thanks for fluttering by!