Graffiti grunge Get well

Graffiti is not a nice thing, as a rule, but I think here, it works:

One of the guys at work has been very, very sick recently, with a nasty illness causing cancer from a virus. Yuck.

So we sent him a card to let us know that we were thinking of him. And that’s how it turned out. He was really pleased.

The thing about guys is that they can be notoriously difficult to make cards for, especially get well cards which have a tendency to be a bit flowery or rude, quite often! As I knew that I wanted to make the card myself, using my available stamps and crafty stash, as well as not wanting the card to appear too “girly” and being big enough for lots of people from the office to sign it, I wondered if I was taking on too big of a challenge. Then I saw a card similar to this on another blog, I think it was Julie Kettlewell’s blog, who is another Stampin’ Up! demonstrator, and I was struck with inspiration.

The card base is an 8×8″ card blank which I bought from Createandcraft.tv a while ago. They are a lovely size for lots of people to sign, especially if you put in extra “pages” like we needed to do with this one. But the brick wall embossing folder which I needed to use to get the effect for this is only 6×6″ – what to do?! Ah, yes, make the stamped and embossed panel a 6×6″ section, and add a nice chunky border to it. Lovely.

Based on Julie’s advice regarding stamping and embossing using background textures, I first stamped the panel I wanted to emboss:

I went with a number of different sentiments, as well as some spots and splodges from Gorgeous Grunge, and came up with a general graffiti design I was happy with.

I then got out my Big Shot and embossed said graffiti using the brick wall embossing folder, which I gently swiped with my smoky slate ink pad before running it through the machine:

And it came out pretty well, I think!

I don’t have many get well-specific stamps, as it turns out, so I improvised a bit with the sentiments I used on my “wall”, but I think it works, and the recipient was very pleased. I think he particularly appreciated the sentiment that people were still thinking of him and he’s not been forgotten! Which is always good to know, isn’t it.

So we have new weekly deals today, head on over to the weekly deals section of the Stampin’ Up! website to view those, and I will be back tomorrow with something different. (Are you still remembering to make the most of your “moments“?)

Why not try making your own graffiti inspired card, using whatever sentiments and images you have to hand? The two things that really “make” this card are the brick wall embossing folder, and the gorgeous grunge splodges. If you need anything to complete the card, then head on over to the online store to get yours today! (And don’t forget to add in your Christmas stamps and goodies – who’d like a Christmas graffiti card?)

Updated to add the weekly deals image: