Simple, Yet Elegant Sympathy Card

Ask any scrapper what she/he considers the hardest card to create, and I bet many of them would tell you a sympathy card.  Birthdays, thank-you's, holidays... Those are all fun cards to design.  No one ever wants to have a reason to work on a sympathy card... me included.  They are almost always last-minute cards and usually take some time to create because you want to get them "just right".

The following design was no different.  I needed four cards for my cousins who lost their mother after a long road of illness.  While I was not happy with the occasion behind creating these cards, I am pleased with how pretty they turned out and plan to make a batch of similar cards for future use.

Front

Inside

JD'S SCRAP-IPE:

♥ Black and white solid cardstock

♥ Cream shimmer cardstock ~ Recollections Gemstones pack

♥ Printed scrapbook paper ~ Recollections *NEW* 24 sheet packs

♥ 1/4" white satin ribbon ~ Offray

♥ Accnt48 regular and shadow cut at 3 3/4" ~ Cricut Accent Essentials

♥ Photo labels punch ~ ek Success

♥ "With Sympathy" stamp ~ Pink By Design Scripted Year

♥ Flower stamp ~ Stampin' Up! Silhouette Sentiments

Until next time, Cricuteers!

~ JD ~

Finding Inspiration...

I found out yesterday that my aunt's mom (my dad's brother's mother-in-law) passed away on Thursday night.  Although not officially related, she was almost like a part of the family.  She would attend various family functions with my aunt and uncle... holiday celebrations, bridal / baby showers, graduation parties, and more.  The visitation is tomorrow, and I knew I wanted to make a card for my aunt, uncle, and cousin.  I just wasn't sure where to start. So I turned to my fellow paper crafters in the blog world for inspiration.  {I am so thankful for all of you!}  Several of this week's challenges caught my eye and sparked an idea in my head.  So I pulled out one of my new Cuttlebug folders and created this sympathy card.  Strangely I wasn't really sure about this folder when I purchased it, but am now glad I did because it worked beautifully for this card.

JD'S SCRAP-IPE:
Card Front
♥ Paper from Recollections ~ Kraft, Brown from Spice Market, and Green from Cypress
♥ Embossed with Cuttlebug ~ Bird Call folder
♥ Tiny round brads from The Paper Studio ~ Metal
♥ 1/8" ribbon from Offray ~ Leaf and Brown
♥ "in sympathy" sentiment from The Paper Studio ~ Everyday Expressions
     ~ inked with Stampin' Up! Early Espresso
Card Inside
♥ "God be with you" cut from Lyrical Letters

I am submitting this card to the following challenges:
♥ Made By Momo ~ Anything Embossing (use heat embossing or dry embossing)
♥ Cooking With Cricut ~ Fall Colors
♥ Fantabulous Cricut ~ Challenge Me Monday #34: "Bird Bonanza: Create a project using something having to do with a bird (bird cage, owl, bird, etc.)"

Until next time, Cricuteers!
~ JD ~