Hi everyone,

Why are sympathy cards so hard to make??? Ugh. I made 5 of them before this one and all of them were tossed into the trash. And of course, that always happens when I actually, really need one.

This one is for one of my staff that lost a family member. I know their heart is breaking and that’s pretty much all I can think about when I’m making the card. That’s probably why it takes me twice as long to make them. I really need to make a batch of sympathy cards ahead of time – it might be easier to make them when I don’t have a recipient in mind.

For this card, I went with a large floral that I water colored with Autumn colors of gold and orange, olive greens, and mustard. I heat embossed the images using black pigment ink and clear embossing powder. I’m not the best at water coloring, but having the embossed outline makes it a lot easier.

Once the images were completely dry, I die cut them with the coordinating dies.

I embossed my sentiment along the edge, added a piece of black cardstock to the left of my floral image, and left the right side of the card white.

I added a few gems for some shine and a bit of interest.

This card goes in the mail tomorrow. It will be late, but the sentiment is heartfelt, so I know they won’t mind.

I hope you all take a minute to hug someone you love today!