Cards for my sister.... Prayers & Housewarming

Hello Everyone! Sorry I have not been keeping up with my blogging. :/  I have made a few cards since my last post, most have been requests from family members.  :) Love making cards for my family especially when they have an idea in mind of what they want, makes it a bit easier for me to create with a guide.  :P

My sister text me last week asking if I could make a sympathy card for one of her close friend whose dad just past away.  :( I was really sad to hear the news as I know this friend and have known her since I was a kid, so it was unfortunate news to hear.  I had an idea of what I wanted to do as this idea had been lingering in my head since I received the stamp set, but who wants to make such a card without thinking about of someone passing (sad times).   I usually don't make sympathy cards until I have to.  For this card, I used Mama Elephant's: Organic Blooms stamp set and Gina Marie Designs: Prayers die.  I was on a ziggy craze when I created the card, so I of course gravitated towards it was my color medium.  First I die cut my base from Gina Marie Designs: Scalloped Stitched Rectangle die and masked off all parts after the stitching.  I used my MISTI, since this is a fairly large stamp to stamp the image with VersaFine Embossing ink and heat embossed it with Ranger Detailed White Embossing powder.  Luckily, I used the MISTI because some of the parts did not stamp well so I was able to go back to touch up those areas.  I LOVE the MISTI; so glad I finally got one. this card would have been ruin had I not had the tool.  I then used my Ziggies and a water brush to color in the image.  I was going for something a bit softer for the card.  Here comes the fun part, scary, but fun.  I had been wanting to try in-lay die cutting but with dimension, so I used the Prayers die to cut through my finished watercolor piece (scary because if I messed up all the work that I had gone through would have been in the trash bin).  It worked out though!  I cut 2 more Prayers die cut to layer up and put back into the card.  AHHHH! I Loved how it turned out.  I then picked a sentiment to go with the die cute and embossed it with detailed white embossing power on black card stock.  Here is the finished piece...

My sister also asked me to make some housewarming cards for her husband's sister and brother, who both recently moved into their new homes.  I at the time did not have any stamp sets with the theme, but quiescently I found some on a Facebook group I am in that sells second hand stamps (most of which are almost brand new!) and at a great price.  For these cards I used Paper Smooches: Bitty Bungalows and Avery Elle: Home Sweet Home (for the sentiment inside the card).  For this card, I thought I would break out my Copics, as I haven't used them in a while.  I stamped and color the images, then fussy cut them out.  I saw that I had the inside pieces left of a inside scalloped circle die from a previous card which I used Lawn Fawn pattern paper.  I used those pieces to highlight the houses on my card.  This was a fairly simple card as I had to make two so I didn't want to make it too elaborate.  I used black cardstock to emboss with detail white embossing powder the sentiment and cut fish tails at the end.  I popped up the house to make it stand out a bit.  Anywho, here are the cards....