Special Guest - Rebecca Rapanaro

I am so honored to be a special guest for Whimsy Stamps! I absolutely adore their stamps! 
I have been using this company for a long time, and they are just fabulous! It did not take but a moment to know that I would use Sympathy So Deeply Sorry stamp set, created by the very talented Deb Davis. It is never easy to make sympathy cards and unfortunately we need them, but that was not my reason for selecting this set. The sentiment “May love be the thing you remember the most” is what spoke to me. You see, 17 years ago my mother passed away from breast cancer; she was 54 years old. Just about a year later, my father passed away; he was 59 years old. It’s been hard not having them here. They were the inspiration for this card. I just want to thank Deb Davis for reminding me that love is what I remember most. This beautiful set and its heartfelt sentiments bring such a sense of comfort and ease. A sympathy set like this can be used for tributes or for remembering someone special. 

To begin I stamped the floral images from the Sympathy stamp set using Ink on 3 Black Out Detail Ink. I stamped the flowers around the cardstock, masking some of them at points where I needed to insert more flowers or leaves behind the original stamped images to create a full area of blooms. I made masks using Post it Notes. I paid special attention to the area where I knew I wanted to place the sentiment, making sure that there would be leaves, twigs and petals ever so delicately framing its border. Once all of the flowers were dry, I began to color with my alcohol markers. 

Once I had finished all of the coloring, I used my pencils to create some shadows in between the petals and white and black gel pens for some controlled polka dots around the card. I then heat embossed the sentiment, trimmed it and adhered it to the panel using foam tape. I added a shimmer spray and sparkling crystals for a little shimmer. 

Thank you to Whimsy Stamps for this amazing opportunity. Thank you to Deb Davis for all of your beautiful designs that keep inspiring me! Please stay safe and stay well!