Today’s post is a clean and simple sympathy card. I never know the right thing to say when someone loses a loved one, so I try to express my condolences through the art of card making. In my opinion, less is more for sympathy cards, so I tend to leave a fair amount of white space on the design when I saying I’m sorry for your loss.
This tutorial will walk you through this clean and simple sorry for your loss sympathy card. Keep reading to find out how I made it, and the materials I used.
Materials Used:
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Feather No.55 Switch-Blade Shear, 5.5 Inch [Amazon]
Fiskars Recycled Bypass Trimmer, 12 Inch [Amazon]
EK Tools EK Scoring Board 12×12 [Amazon]
Omnigrid 4-6-12-Inch Marking Ruler Trio [Amazon]
Trim Slant Tip Tweezers [Amazon]
Misti Stamp Tool Original Size Stamp Positioner [Amazon]
Lawn Fawn Stamp Shammy [Scrapbook.com] [Amazon]
Hero Arts – Hero’s Pineapple Layering Stamp Pad Set [Amazon]
Martha Stewart Crafts Corner Punch, Rounder [Amazon]
Sticro 5 Sizes Self-adhesive Rhinestone Sticker 4950 Pieces [Amazon]
Bazzill Swiss Dot Cardstock – White
Recollections Cardstock Paper, Essentials 20 Colors [Amazon]
Neenah Solar White Cardstock [Scrapbook.com] [Amazon]
Scrapbook Adhesives Initially Repositionable Mounting Squares [Scrapbook.com] [Amazon]
Sorry for Your Loss Tutorial:
Step 1. Create your card base.
Because sympathy cards are given at such difficult times, I want the card to feel thoughtful and caring. To me, this means muted tones, keeping the design simple, and ideally using colors that don’t appear overly masculine or feminine.
For this card base, I chose an olive green color that matched the leaves in some floral cardstock that I was planning to use. I cut and scored the cardstock to make an A2 sized card. I also rounded out the bottom edges using my Martha Stewart Crafts corner punch to give it a softer feel.
Step 2. Trim all the cardstock for this clean and simple design.
The floral paper that I was planning to use had a soft orange, yellow, and reddish/pink floral pattern. I cut a 5.5 x 1.75-inch strip of that cardstock and set it aside. I also grabbed a sheet of Neenah Solar White cardstock and trimmed it to be 4 X 2.25 inches and set that aside as well. Lastly, I found a piece of white Swiss Dot Bazzil cardstock. This is a very soft dotted cardstock with dots that seem to almost be unnoticeable. I cut this to be 4 X 3inches.
Step 3. Put everything together.
Once I had prepped all my cardstock, I was ready to put everything together. I laid my Neenah Solar White cardstock on the table above the Bazzil paper. Both pieces were face down and pushed tightly together so that the two individual pieces would make one 4 x 5.25 background for this card. I took some scotch tape and secured the pieces together.
Then I grabbed my strip of floral cardstock and laid it at an angle so that it would cover the seam where the two sheets of white cardstock meet. I cut off the excess, rounded the bottom edges, and applied the design to my card base.
Step 4. Stamp sorry for your loss, and add embellishments.
Next, I placed my card in my Mist stamping tool and used my “Sorry for your loss” sentiment at an angle to match the orientation of the floral cardstock. I used Forever Green Ink from Hero Arts to stamp the sentiment, then I added a line of rhinestones above and below the flowers to create some additional symmetry.
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