Another Simple Sympathy Card

Posted in Cards by My Empty Nest Creations

Unfortunately, when a friend asks for a card from me, it’s quite often been a sympathy card. I’m pretty sure that I’ve made more sympathy cards in the last year than I ever have in the last 10. I’ve said before that sympathy cards have always been hard for me to make. It’s such a personal and emotional thing, that I feel pressure to make it just perfect. This one came together fairly easily, and I’m really happy with how it turned out.

My Empty Nest Creations Sympathy Card using Concord & 9ths Lily stamp set

I started by stamping the lily from Concord & 9th’s Lily stamp set twice on a piece of purple card stock with Versamark ink, and heat embossing it with Recollections Snow embossing powder. Using my white Prismacolor colored pencil, I colored in the petals. The sentiment is from My Favorite Things Brushstroke Expressions stamp set. I black heat embossed it onto a strip of velum and adhered it onto the purple card front.

To brighten the card a bit, I used a piece of patterned paper from My Favorite Things Black & White paper pad as the backing. Because I’m kind of hooked on dimension, I used foam tape to attach the purple card front to the card base, and as usual, I added a few black Nuvo drops.

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8Mar2018

Unfortunately, There Seems to be a Rush on Sympathy Cards

Posted in Cards by My Empty Nest Creations

For some reason, I’ve had several friends ask me for sympathy cards recently. They are the hardest cards for me to make. A lot depends on who’s receiving it, who passed away and the card giver’s relationship to them. I don’t want to make a floral card if the recipient is male. I also don’t want to make an overly personal card if the recipient is more of an acquaintance to the card giver. As most things, I know I’m totally overthinking it, but it still matters to me.

With that said, I was able to create a few different cards for them to see. Here is one from the group…

My Empty Nest Creations Ink Blended Silver Embossed Sympathy Card

Unfortunately, my photo doesn’t do this card justice. The silver embossing is very shiny (not dark like the bottom portion looks in the picture 😦

I started by creating a circle mask and ink blended with Broken China, Peacock Feathers and Wilted Violet Distress Oxides. Because patience is NOT one of my virtues, I used my heat tool to speed up the drying process. After dusting with my powder tool, I stamped the floral image from Unity Stamp Company’s Steps of Courage stamp set at the bottom edge using Versamark ink. I heat embossed it with Zing’s Metallic Silver Embossing Powder. The sentiment is from Hero Arts Everyday Sayings stamp set and is embossed with the same embossing powder. The card front is matted with a blue/green card stock to match the ink blending.

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30Jan2018

Do You Struggle Making Sympathy Cards?

Posted in Cards by My Empty Nest Creations

I don’t know about you, but I always hesitate just a bit when someone asks me to make a sympathy card for them. It’s really pretty difficult finding a design that will work for everyone…male, female, family member, friend or simply an acquaintance. If you google for ideas, you’re not going to find that many to spark your creativity. It just isn’t a very popular card to make and post on social media.

I think I’ve come up with a design that just might work for any recipient. I think it’s also a design that could work for almost any greeting, too.

My Empty Nest Creations Sympathy Cards using Poppystamps Die and Distress Oxides

Using a Neenah Solar White 110# top folding card base, I masked off a rectangle that would fit within the die cut window piece. (Note that my die cut window piece is not quite center cut from the 4×5.25″ piece of white card stock. I left a slightly larger bottom on my frame for visual interest.) For the colored backgrounds, I used Distress Oxides Seedless Preserves (purple) and Salty Ocean with some Faded Jeans (blue) around the edges. To add a little extra something, I spritzed some water and removed the droplets with a paper towel. I die cut several pieces using the Hampstead Stem die from Poppystamps and glued them in place on the color backgrounds. Using a sentiment from Bo Bunny Sentiments stamp set, I black heat embossed it onto a strip of velum. Initially, I was going to use a white heat embossed greeting, but I really love how the black just pops off the background. All that was left was adhering the white frame with foam tape.

I could see this card design with many different color combinations, die cuts and greetings. I’m excited to see what other cards I can come up with using this versatile card design. I hope you give it a try. I’d love to see what you come up with 🙂

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