Sympathy with Watercolor Trio

I'm tellin' you, I'm not thrilled that I've had to make two sympathy cards this month. Then I found out on Sunday that the mother of a friend of ours passed away suddenly. I already had one of the Medallion sympathy cards on hand that I created for this month's Stamp-A-Stack, but I had no idea I'd be using it so soon. I'm not superstitious, but I hope this ends the pattern.

My friend Deb lost her mom to cancer about 10 days ago, and since we are now separated by many miles, I wanted to get a card in the mail to her as soon as I heard the news.

I do not own any of the sympathy specific stamp sets SU! has manufactured, so I reached for Watercolor Trio (retired). Using Elegant Eggplant and Old Olive, I stamped a few stems and incorporated a non-SU! sentiment.

I continue to find uses for my Square Lattice Textured Impressions Folder for the Big Shot. It's just so nice to be able to quickly add some dimension to a card with this tool.

I also decided to decorate the interior, so I pulled out one of the leftover frames created by the Big Shot when you cut out a Top Note Bigz Die. This one is in Very Vanilla, and there was just enough margin on each side to stamp the flowers again. Don't throw away those scraps--you never know when they might come in handy!

Take the time to get a card in the mail to someone you know who has lost a loved one. It doesn't matter how recently they experienced the loss; the grief is fresh for a long time, and knowing that someone hasn't forgotten about their pain can be very meaningful.

In Sympathy

I told you last week that I made a sympathy card because I knew I was going to need one soon. Well, the death I've been expecting hasn't happened, but one I wasn't did. One of my stampers, Christy, is saying goodbye to her mother-in-law tomorrow. She died suddenly, and I just heard about tomorrow's funeral this morning.

I've had this image laying around on my craft table for about 10 days now, ever since Kristina Werner's color challenge for So Saffron, Old Olive, Not Quite Navy, and Bashful Blue. I decided this was somber enough to serve my need.

The watercolor paper adds some nice texture, and it's hard to tell, but the flowers (from retired Art of Life set) were colored with markers, misted with water to blur them a bit, and then stamped. I also created a grid pattern on the paper to give further visual interest. The ribbon on the left creates balance, since the paper is significantly smaller than the standard 4.25" x 5.5" frame of the base.

The saying is a random stamp I've had for years and years, and it's my favorite to use for sympathy cards. For me, turning to God is natural during times of trouble, and it comforts me greatly to view God as a refuge, as this verse in Isaiah says. It's from a company called PrintWorks (don't even know if they're still around) and Annette Allen Watkins is listed as the designer. By the way, I had to peel the price tag off the side to obtain this information, and I paid $7.20 for this single stamp.

I don't like how life doesn't stop when someone dies. I want things not to be normal for awhile, but, of course they are. I don't want to follow my regular routine; it somehow seems disrespectful of the one who died. How do you feel when someone dies? Do you alter your day in any way in light of what you know someone else is experiencing?

Friends are Great!

I met Melissa a few months ago when she contacted Stampin' Up! to find a demonstrator in Cumming. She'd moved here from FL in February and was missing the fellowship of stamping and needing someone to enjoy it with. The website directed her to me, and we've become friends through this wonderful craft!

I had some free time today (love retail scheduling!), and so I asked Melissa if she'd like to come over and stamp. She came, and she brought an adorable set that I hadn't worked with or even remembered is in the Fall-Winter Collection: Dotted Autumn. What a cool set!

Melissa remembered that there's a cute placecard in the catalog that illustrates how to use the set (another wonderful feature of SU!'s catalog) and she wanted to make it. So we just copied it and added our own little flair by popping the leaves up on dimensionals. I'm conducting a workshop next Friday, and I asked Melissa if we could make enough so that I could have one to set at the places of each guest. Without hesitating, she agreed, and has loaned me the set for the week! What a friend, and now I have something truly autumnal for this workshop, due Melissa's kindness and generosity.

On a sad note, one of my friends had a death in the family recently, which I just found out about yesterday. Sympathy cards are challenging to me, but I wanted to make sure my friend and her husband knew that I cared about their loss. I started with Bordering Blue card stock because it was muted. I used SU!'s Color Wheel to tell me which colors would coordinate with it, and this was the result.

The sentiment is from a retired Simply Sent set that says: Some people strengthen others just by being the kind of people they are. The woman who died struggled with cancer for 6 years, yet I thought that this saying probably typified how she was--inspiring others by her courage.

One last thing: I started my Stampin' Up! business about a year ago, hoping to share my love of stamping with others, and encourage women to invest in nurturing themselves and their relationships. I have been blown away by the wonderful women God has brought into my life as a result. Women I know now that I wasn't in relationship with a year ago, both in this area and across the country via the internet. Thanks to all of you for all you've done to support me in this past year. I'm so grateful to have you in my life!