Freshly Made Sketches #241 | Hero Arts Prayer Cards for Sharing Smiles Orlando, FL
As you all know, the US was hit with a terrible tragedy in Orlando, Florida this past weekend. And really... it was hit with 3 tragedies. Strange how bad things seem to come in 3s, right? As much as I'd love to do something to help, there's not much that I can do here from MD. A little girl from Orlando, Madison, took it upon herself to do what she could to help by making handmade cards for those affected by these tragic events. Needless to say, as a card-maker, this caught my attention. I looked up Sharing Smiles Orlando, FL on Facebook and learned that Madison is not only making cards, but her and her mom are collecting cards from others to distribute to those in need. After contacting Madison's mom and learning that they are accepting cards from people of all ages (not just kids), I finally knew how I could help.
I decided to make a small series of cards to send to Sharing Smiles Orlando, FL. The first stamp set I thought of was the Hero Arts exclusive Prayers stamp and die set from Simon Says Stamp! When I first saw this stamp set, I jumped right on it and bought it along with the matching die; it was just too pretty and perfect for sympathy cards. It became quite popular, and SSS has since then re-released the stamp set and die and made it available permanently for purchase (rather than just for a certain time).
I also wanted to create a design that would be easy to replicate to make multiple cards, so I turned to Freshly Made Sketches #241 for a simple card sketch and got to work. Now, I will be the first to admit, this is by far not my best work :/ I think we all just have off-days, right? I do. So despite having a good design in mind, I had difficulty making it very clean with the supplies that I had rather than the supplies I would have liked to use. In the end, I made 7 cards with this design and, despite it not being my best work, there's no reason these finished cards should go to waste, so I will still be sending them because it's the thought that counts... I'm not trying to impress anyone with these cards.
The thing that made these cards not turn out as clean as I would have liked is the adhesive that I used. Liquid adhesive is just annoying, but sometimes it's the best option that will work. It didn't really start to get messy until I glued the "prayers" die cuts to the matching foam die cuts, then gluing those to the cards. I would have liked to use my Xyron sticker machine for this to get a clean look, but I'm out of sticker paper! :( I tried to salvage the damage I did by applying both Clear Wink of Stella and Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle Glitter to my "prayers" die cuts, but the adhesive still shows a bit through it, as well as around the die cuts on the actual cards. Okay, I'm going to stop beating myself up now!
Below you will find a video showing the process of how I made these cards, as well as a list of supplies used.
Now to the important stuff! If you, too, would like to help and make some cards that Madison and her mom can distribute, visit the Sharing Smiles Orlando, FL Facebook page for more information. In a nutshell, you can create cards for sympathy, support, encouragement... write a small note within each card and send them to the following address for distribution:
Sharing Smiles PO Box 560566 Orlando, FL 32856
Thanks for stopping by! Happy crafting :)
Supplies:
