Translate

Saturday 21 January 2017

A few tips for making Sympathy Cards

Hello crafty peeps and welcome to my crafty nook! I hope you are all having a brilliant week and have lots of crafty plans for the weekend.

As a crafter, I love to create cards and other projects and I made a very conscious choice about 12 years ago not to buy any manufactured cards but to make my own. It hasn't always been easy, some cards are easier to make than others but the one card style I've always found difficult to make is sympathy cards. No-one likes to be reminded that we all have a limited time on this planet and I'm no exception so like many crafters, sympathy cards are the one card I don't pre-make and I'm actually wondering if that's a bit of a mistake. I found out last weekend that a friend from my old church passed away just after Christmas, I wanted to send her husband a sympathy card to let him know how sorry I was to hear about his loss. I thought it be helpful to come up with a few dos and don'ts for anyone needing to make a similar card themselves.

Here is the card I came up with.




I used a stamp from a stamp set that came free with Creative Stamping a couple of months ago. The With sympathy sentiment came from a stamp set in my stash. I diecut a stitched rectangle from smooth stamping card and stamped the snowdrop image using Memento Tuxedo Black ink as it's suitable to use with alcohol markers. I used a Cool Shadow Copic marker to colour the inside of the flower petals and a couple of green Flex Markers to colour the leaves and stems. I added some dots of black glaze pen to the flower stamen as shown. I mounted this die cut piece onto a rectangle of silver mirror card and then diecut a stitched oval out of the same smooth stamping card I used earlier. I stamped the sentiment onto the oval using Memento ink. I made the card blank by cutting an A4 piece of card down to A5 and folding it in half, I added a black mat leaving a 1/4 " border of the white card showing beneath. I added the topper and sentiment as shown.

One of the main things I learnt from making this card is to keep it simple, both in colouring and with the layers. Avoid the bling if you can or try to make it simple and classy (avoid the glitter but a few pearls or clear gems can be a classy touch). Unless you are sure of both the recipient and the person they've lost's faith, try to avoid religious icons and imagery even if you are a believer yourself (you can write that the person receiving the card is in your thoughts and prayers). Take clues from the death notice in the paper if there is one - for example it may state that they want the funeral to be colourful so you may decide not to use black at all but keep the colours in  neutral tones (greys, kraft, browns etc) if you can.

I hope this has been useful, I will be making a few sympathy cards to put to one side because another useful thing I learnt making this card is it's a lot easier to make a card if you are not grieving as you make it. I shall add them to this post (without a tutorial) as and when I make them.

I should be making a few birthday cards over the next couple of days as I've some birthdays coming up. If you have any questions or comments then please feel free to leave them in the usual places and I'll try to respond to them as soon as I can. Until next time - keep crafting!

Love and crafty hugs,

Sarah xxx

1 comment:

  1. I think your card is just perfect for the occasion. I really like the stamps you have used-they would be great for many occasions with different sentiments.

    Michele

    ReplyDelete

I value your feedback and questions about this blog so please leave me a comment - let's spread the crafty love...

Sarah xxx