How to Make a Christian Sympathy Card Using Spellbinder's Dies

This year my church lost the wife of our former pastor.  She led a long, full life, but no matter how old someone is when they pass, we still miss them and consider it a great loss.  I will always remember her for her gracious smile and greetings every Sunday.  I still look for her as I leave the sanctuary, even though I know she is not there.  I see her faithful husband sitting in their usual seats, surrounded by people that make sure he is not alone.  She was a pillar of our church for many, many years.  She will always be remembered.

I went to the funeral, and frankly, it was probably one of the best church services I had been to in years, as the message and music was so inspiring.  Yes, tears were shed by loved ones over the loss of their matriarch, but stories that made people laugh were shared as well.  But perhaps what amazed me most of all was how loving this family was.  "In-laws" spoke about how they were "welcomed in" and were so "appreciative to marry in to such an incredible family".  It made me envious and caused me to experience a pang of pain, because that has never been my experience and it is something I have wanted my entire life:  a real, loving Christian family.  Yes, my nuclear family is great!  God has been so good.  But I always wanted this big, loving, happy, Christian external family and instead I received insanity, betrayal, greed, and turmoil. I know my experience is not unique so I shouldn't feel sorry for myself, after all that's why so many people dread dinner around the Thanksgiving table.  But it's hard when you do see an extended family that got it so right, and you wonder "Why couldn't it have been your family?" .  I do know as a Christian that God has given me that loving external family in His church, the body of Christ, but I still feel I missed out, especially when the holidays roll around.

 So we celebrated this amazing woman's life who somehow managed to keep a huge family of three generations together who loved and cared for each other;  that is incredible, and what a testimony.  As my family grows, I pray that is my legacy too!  Here is the card I made for the dear husband who was left behind as his wife continued on to glory.

Because the recipient of the card was male and a former pastor I chose a cross for my main image and I used neutral colors.  The cross is from a retired Spellbinder's set called "Crosses Two".  It is no longer in production, but you can find it on Amazon.

I cut the intricate cross out first with a metallic silver paper, then I cut the background cross out with shiny gold Paper.

The designer paper in the background has a soft, subtle metallic shine.  It's always hard to capture metallics/sheen in photographs.  The card is so much more prettier in real life, because of the shine of the paper.  I adhered the designer paper to the gold paper so it created a nice gold border. 

The sentiment is also gold metallic and it was pre-printed on a sheet that I just cut out.

I kept the design simple because the recipient was male, but also because I wanted the image of the cross to do all the talking.  Our beloved pastor's wife is now in heaven because of the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross and her acceptance of that sacrifice.  She is no longer in pain, she can walk again without using a walker, she is in His presence experiencing sheer joy.  Hallelujah! 

Have A Great Day!  Amy

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A Handmade Masculine Style Sympathy Card

Last month I had to say goodby to a very old friend who died of cancer.  It was a devastating loss.  She was such a beautiful woman; always smiling, always helping people.  She left behind her husband of thirty two years.  It was a hard funeral, and even harder to see her loving husband deal with the magnitude of his loss.  But being people of faith, he said "I won't be far behind her.  I will see her again soon!".  I replied back "I think we all will, as I know Jesus is coming back soon!"  

I handmade a sympathy card for my friend's husband.  I wanted to keep it clean and simple, yet elegant and masculine at the same time.

To make the card, I chose neutral, masculine colors.  The card base is "Creamy Caramel". I stamped a retired Stampin' Up! background stamp called "Scrolls" in Versamark on the caramel card stock then sprinkled gold embossing powder on it and heat set it using a heat gun.

The sentiment was stamped the same way, but on white card stock.  The image is from retired Stampin' Up! "Brighter Tomorrow".  I put in two eyelets on each short end and ran an iridescent gold ribbon through.  I edged the sentiment panel with a gold gel pen.

I used a corner punch to round two of the corners then edged the Creamy Caramel panel with a gold gel pen too.

 Have A Great Day!  Amy

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"Praying for You" Handmade Card

I have a simple card to show today that you could use to send out to anyone who just needs to know that you care and are praying for them.

The background of tall grass was stamped with a retired Stampin' Up image from the set "Inspired by Nature".  If you don't have a grass stamp this large, it could easily be drawn with a green marker.  I stamped the grass in a green ink directly on the white card stock base.

The sentiment is also from a retired Stampin' Up! set called "Thoughts and Prayers".  I stamped it with green ink, then I cut an oval shape using Spellbinder's Nestabilities.  I then adhered it to another cut oval shape (this one with scallops) but in brown to make it pop.  Two green brads were added for embellishment.

I cut a strip of green paper just to go across the bottom.  You could also add ribbon to make it a little more fancy.  The bird is a pre-purchased felt sticker.

 Have A Great Day!  Amy

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Handmade Sympathy Cards

2020 has sure been a sad year for us, as I know it has been for everyone on our planet.  In addition to Covid and all the political and social issues, we've lost a lot of loved ones to cancer, heart disease, and dementia.  It seems I have had to make more sympathy cards than cards to celebrate life.

If I have the time, I always prefer to send a handmade sympathy card than a store bought one.  I feel taking the extra effort to put some time into making a card is the very least I can do.  The first card is made using two old retired Stampin' Up! sets "Brighter Tomorrow" and "Happy Harmony".  I know, it's kind of ironic that I made a sympathy card from a set called "Happy Harmony" but I loved the flower image.

To make the card, using a Stampamajig I randomly stamped the flower image from the "Happy Harmony" set all over a sky blue card base.  I then cut a scalloped border out of white card stock along with a strip of "Close to Cocoa" card stock and sewed them directly onto the sky blue card base using a sewing machine. Sewing on a card seems odd to some, but I feel it adds just a little bit of interest to a card and it's so easy to do.

I then stamped the sentiment onto white card stock with an image from retired Stampin' Up! "Brighter Tomorrow" and cut it into a scalloped oval shape using a die from Spellbinder's Nestabilities.  I sponged light blue ink on the edges, then I popped it up on dimensionals.  The butterflies were cut using an old Cuttlebug die.  I glued just the bodies of the butterflies to the card to add more dimension.  Small, metallic pearls were added to some of the dots in the flower images.

My next card only uses images from the retired Stampin' Up! set "Thoughts and Prayers".  Since it's fall, I decided to create a fall sympathy card and stamped the image in fall colors.  I picked a dark purple and brown to frame the main image then I decorated the card with a bow.

I used Stampin' Up! Watercolor Markers to color different fall colors directly onto the stamp.  Then I huffed on it to remoisten the ink, and stamped.

Have A Great Day!

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