SYMPATHY CARDS

No one likes to have to buy (or make in my case) a sympathy card because it means someone has passed from this life and there is loss and sadness for those left behind.

Recently we received a call from our friend Betty Martin. We used to park our RV next to them and across the street from her brother in Green Gate retirement park down in Mission TX every winter. Well, Betty's SIL, brother John's wife died unexpectedly. So I began my process of making a card for him.

I have several oval stamps of light houses and I thought the image would work. I also had a new Fiskars punch and it looks like scrolly waves and I wanted to use that. I decided on several blue papers and card stocks. I also wanted the card to be masculine looking. My style tends to be more to the feminine side. So below are my two first attempts but they were too feminine to me. The third card was much more simple and I think hit the mark better. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of the card I sent (duh!) but will describe it. So you will need to put on your imagination caps and try to visualize it. I used the same papers and card stock in all three so I think you will get the idea.

Sympathy card #1...Stampendous light house stamp. Stampin Up Brilliant Blue solid card stock, and DSP (designer paper prints in paisley and the small print down the left side.) The white/blue background looks like graph paper but a brighter blue. I used the Spellbinder classic oval and scalloped oval Nestie for the image which is popped up. The horizontal punch was the Fiskars "swirl" which I just love and the vertical punch on the edge is the SU scalloped border. The image did not quite fill the oval but I used my artistic drawing abilities and filled in the edges and colored with SU markers. You can see the faint line but it isn't too bad for my first attempt at doing that. Lastly I added red brads to each of the corners. The sentiment is from a clear set I have and was stamped in Stampin Up Brilliant Blue ink

Sympathy card #2...Stampendous light house image cut out using the classic oval Nestie from Spellbinder, and matted with the scalloped oval Nestie. I turned this one sideways and matted the whole with SU Brilliant Blue solid CS, and did faux stitching around the white check. The rest is pretty much the same although the lighthouse is a different image and colored with SU markers as was the other one. The red sheer ribbon was added for softness.




Sympathy card #3...Was a vertical card, matted in SU Brilliant Blue, with the whole front being a piece of the blue graph paper. I had two 1/2 strips of the small print from the Brilliant Blue DSP and I criss crossed them like a "cross" shape on the front. I popped the same image from the second card onto a scalloped mat and colored this light house with colored pencils. It gave a much softer look to the whole card. I did not add ribbon, or brads or punched edges and kept it plain and I put the sentiment inside in Brilliant Blue. I received a nice THANK YOU from John so know he appreciated. my efforts. I may at some point make another like it just to add a picture here. "A picture is worth a thousand words" Right? Thanks for stopping by.