Friday, February 27, 2015

CAS Sheltering Tree and Surgery Update


Hello, Friends!

This may be the most Clean and Simple card I have ever made...ever.  My Dad needed a sympathy card for a man in his Sunday School class who's brother passed away.  He just wanted a simple card that I had stamped.  This is the card I created.

All it took was one piece of card stock, one stamp set, a brown ink pad, three green ink pads and a sponge.  Compared to a lot of cards, this isn't much!  The stamp set is a photopolymer set made by Stampin' Up called "Sheltering Tree."  On a 110 lb piece of white card stock, which is thick enough for a single layer card to not feel flimsy, I stamped the tree trunk.  Then, I stamped the leaves in a dark green, Always Artichoke Classic Ink by Stampin' Up.  (I was a Stampin' Up demonstrator for a long time, so that's who made most of my colored inks!)  Without re-inking the stamp, I moved it over slightly and stamped it again.  Because I could see through the stamp, this was easy to do.  I cleaned the stamp, inked it in a different green, Garden Green, and stamped it in a slightly different position from the first two times.  Without re-inking in that green, I moved it a fourth time and stamped it again.  This gave me four different green colors of leaves with only two ink pads.  Even though I have stamped the leaves four times, there were still white spots you could see through the leaves.  I grabbed a sponge and a third color of green, Old Olive and just sponged this ink around the leaves.  This filled in the white space and made the tree look full.  (Tip- cut your yellow stamping sponges available online or at craft stores into wedges.  You don't need a whole sponge for each color, just a small wedge will work.  This saves money for more stamps!)  Using that same green, Old Olive, I stamped the grass hill type stamp on the right side.  I cleaned that stamp, and stamped the hill with the second green color I had used, Garden Green.  Without re-inking it, I stamped the grass one more time and got the lightest green color of grass on the bottom.  I stamped my sentiment in the same color as the tree trunk, Early Espresso, and my card was finished.  It was clean, simple, and I really liked it.  My Dad was happy with it, as well.  He wrote a note inside and he was able to get it right in the mail. 

Sometimes I get so wrapped up in the thinking that my card has to be "perfect" with lots of layers and details and colors and embellishments that I don't ever get a card made for the person I wanted to send one to.  I'm sure the people who didn't get a card would have preferred to hear from me as opposed to not getting the "perfect" card.  Who wants to not get a card as opposed to getting one?  This card proved that every card doesn't have to take 3 hours with lots of products to be the "perfect" card because a perfect card may be one that gets mailed to a person who needs it!
On a personal note, I have good news.  My back surgery is scheduled for this coming Wednesday, March 4th.  I should be on the road to recovery in less than a week.  Praise God for the fact that it is right around the corner!  I'll be having a lumbar fusion and material put in between the vertebrae in my spine to take the place of the disk that is completely gone and the disk right above it that is severely damaged.  This should relieve the constant pain that I am in, even on very strong pain medications. 

Right now, about the only thing I do is stamp a card and put it on my blog, with the help of my parents bringing materials over to the table for me.  Otherwise, they have to take care of Frank and I completely.  (They know stamping keeps me from losing my mind from the pain and the depression of not being able to take care of myself!)  I'll have to recover from the surgery and then rebuild my muscles from not being able to do much because of my back.  After that, I should be able to be a functioning adult again!  Woo Hoo!  I have been so blessed that they were willing to care for Frank and I, but I would like to take care of myself so they don't have to.  I've told them they should be enjoying their retirement on vacation in Florida instead of babysitting their adult daughter!  I'll have a few more cards and then off to surgery I'll go.  I hope to get more cards scheduled  on my blog to share off and on while I'm recovering so you don't forget me!  I'll let you know if that happens before Wednesday.  Until surgery...

Happy Stamping!


I used the following supplies to make this card:

Sheltering Tree Stamp Set by Stampin' Up
Always Artichoke, Garden Green, Old Olive and Early Espresso Classic Inks by Stampin' Up
Solar White 110 lb Card Stock by Neenah
Yellow Stamping Sponge



1 comment:

Darnell said...

Now I've completely forgotten about your card! I just had to say that I'm so excited for you to be having your surgery next week, Angela! I will add you to my prayers that all goes well and that you have a smooth recovery! You must be almost too excited to even make cards. Would you like to receive cards? Do I have your address? If not, you could send it to my email darnell dot knauss at gmail dot com. I'm not in the Playhouse where my address book is and I'm drawing a blank about whether we have already exchanged addresses! I'm so becited for you!! Big hugs! Darnell

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