Two Sympathy Cards

Sympathy cards are probably not the most favorite ones for card makers to create. But, at times, they are necessary. Recently, 2 friends of my mom & me experience losses. So I created sympathy cards for each of them.

For the first card, I broke out this Majestic Elements die set from Spellbinders. I had never really used it before, mostly because I wasn't sure how to incorporate the die cuts into a design. I was pleased to discover that I also had the coordinating labels dies, which made it easier to cut out elements. I cut the outermost frame from black paper with the largest of the Majestic Elements dies. I used a striped paper & the next largest die to cut the inset, then cut that with the same size labels die. Finally, I die cut the panel for the sentiment, which I'd found on the Internet. After formatting the text in Photoshop and printing the sentiment on the die cut-panel, the assembly was pretty straightforward. The pieces fit together much like a puzzle onto a piece of light blue cardstock.

For the second card, I took my inspiration from this card I found on Pinterest:

I was most drawn to the butterfly, as it is a symbol of transcendence and new life. This seemed perfect for a sympathy card. (That I already had that same die didn't hurt, either.)

I used this Spellbinders Expandable Patterns die, cutting it out of a dark bluish-purple cardstock from my scrap stash, & trimmed off the border. Then I glued that to a light blue panel. I die cut the butterfly portion a second time out of yellow cardstock, then trimmed it out with scissors and glued it on top of the butterfly in the base die cut, just along the body, so the wings would have some dimension. I printed the greeting on a label I die cut with another Spellbinders die. I adhered the greeting label to the butterfly panel, and used Glossy Accents to glue 2 small clear acrylic gems to each end. I mounted that whole panel on another cut from the same yellow as the butterfly. I matted that with green (a color symbolizing new life) and then grey cardstock. So, out of a base of grief (symbolized by the grey cardstock) comes new life and, with it, new hope.