Sweet Stop and Paper Players: Sympathy

I make so many sympathy cards, but virtually all of them go to our church.  Since I do not know who will send them nor who will receive them, it's quite easy to step back and just enjoy the creation of the card.  This time, I have made this card for a friend who just lost her father to complications from Alzheimers.  I had to rely on some of my favorite challenges because I had no good, original ideas how to make this meaningful for her.

The butterfly is one of the new triple punches from EK Success (they also make the new triple punches for Stampin' Up).  I just found this one this morning at Michaels (50% off!)   It's a great deal but be prepared for some frustration if you run out and buy it.  The base butterfly - a solid butterfly - is VERY difficult to punch.  When you squeeze it as hard as you think you can, none of the inner parts of the butterfly are punched.  I googled and when I saw page after page of forum comments, I realize there is a problem with the EK Success Butterfly Layer Punch.  It turns out that for the solid butterfly, you have to push down evenly and very firmly over the entire punch (not just the squeeze part) - or some say they had luck pushing on the back of the punch - when you do this very firmly, you hear a final click and then the butterfly is fully punched.  It is a pain - - but if everybody is having the problem and since I really want the punch, I guess I will just deal with it.

Thanks to the following challenges for helping me through this card.

The Paper Players

The Sweet Stop

• Stamps: Stampin' Up Thoughts and Prayers
• Paper: Stampin' Up Razzleberry, Basic Gray, Old Olive CS and dsp
• Ink: Versamark
• Accessories: Stampin' Up Embossing Folder, Razzleberry Taffeta, gems, Martha Stewart Doily Tags, EK Success Layering Butterfly Punch