Peaceful Moments Sympathy Card

It’s always sad when someone passes, but this was a really hard death for me. My daughter and four of her friends have been friends since kindergarten. They’ve been in each other’s wedding parties, they’ve had kids around the same time, and they’ve been to my house for gingerbread parties each Christmas. So, when the grandmother of one of the friend’s husband moved to my area about 5 years ago, she was happy to meet me because she loved Stampin’ up! She came to my card parties until her health was too frail. I visited her when she couldn’t come. And we corresponded by letter. And, of course, I still sent her catalogs and she would write me a letter with her order in it.

I knew the end was close when she wrote me a goodbye letter. She filled me in on how her children were doing and asked me not to send her any more catalogs because she couldn’t see well enough to stamp anymore. She passed away peacefully at the age of 96.

Today is another Blog Hop by Crafty Collaborations, a group of demonstrators from around the world who participate in blog hops together. At the end of each month, we do a blog hop without any theme to share whatever we’ve been working on to inspire each other.

Today’s Project – Peaceful Moments

After she passed, I knew I’d need a few sympathy cards. And, I also knew they’d have to be made especially for the recipient. Today, I’m sharing the one for my daughter’s friend. This one was tough because the friend is an architect and her husband is a graphic artist. They met in design school and have a very striking aesthetic. No way I could send them some flowery, pretty card. I needed something striking

My first challenge was to find a sympathy stamp that could be the focal piece for the card. So, it had to be striking and large enough to be in command. After looking through my stash, the With Deepest Sympathy stamp from Peaceful Moments caught my eye. It’s big enough and with two different fonts, it catches the eye.

Once I had the stamp, I had to figure out colors. Again, I wanted elegant, not cute or flowery. That led me to one choice – gold embossing. After stamping the sentiment with Versamark ink on the middle of a piece of Very Vanilla cardstock, I used gold embossing powder. Don’t you just love when the powder melts and it turns shiny? One of my most favorite techniques!

I trimmed the panel with the sentiment until I liked the size, then matted it with Gold foil. Next, I took another piece of Very Vanilla and matted it with gold foil, too. Finally, I put both matted pieces on a Very Vanilla card front while poppling the one with the sentiment up on dimensionals.

Make the Inside Pretty

I wanted to carry the gold through to the inside but didn’t want to use that much embossing powder. So, I put two pieces of Tear & Tape along the bottom of the inside, and then I covered them with Gilded Leafing. I love the way it looks and I also wonder why I don’t use it more. It’s so striking!

Don’t Forget the Envelope

For the envelope, I used the same treatment as the inside. Tear & Tape along the left side which was then covered by the Gilded Leafing. I think I’m going to use one of the non-machinable butterfly stamps on this one!

One Last Look – Peaceful Moments

Here’s one last look at my card. I wish you could see how pretty and elegant it looks in person. I know that the recipients will really appreciate it.

Now it’s time for some more collaborative fun. Grab a beverage, sit back and enjoy the hop! You should find some awesome ideas and inspiration as others share their projects made with the Waves of the Ocean suite.

If you’d like to try to recreate this card, you can find a list of the products I used at the end of this post. Need a demonstrator or a catalog? Drop me a line and I’ll put one in the mail. And, f you ever have any questions, please feel free to comment or email me. And, don’t forget to Pin this post so you can find it again!

Product List