Cards for Sad Occasions

Sympathy Cards

You always want to send love to someone who is grieving, but making a sympathy card can be really challenging.  What colour/s are appropriate? How will the person be feeling? What sentiment is appropriate? What do I write inside? Does it look right?

Thinking of You Cards

A similar difficulty is "Thinking of You" cards or a card for someone with a terminal illness.  It's not appropriate to say "Get Well Soon" and it's not right to send "Sympathies".  What do you say to that?

It seems to me that after birthday and thank you cards the next most common card for me to make are Sympathy or Thinking of You cards. Grief is a fact of life and I can tell you from experience that a handmade card with a brief message of love is always welcome.  

Here are my tips for making Cards for Sad Occasions. 

• Choose a clean and simple design.
• If you are going to make one Sympathy card (or other similar card) make a batch so you always have a few on hand.
• Use muted colours (nothing bright) or neutrals such as white, black/ grey, craft, silver, gold and copper.
• Second generation stamping gives a soft look.  
• Keep patterns simple and subtle.
• Use versatile and simple sentiments such as "Thinking of you", "Sending Love and Prayers", "You are in my Prayers", "You are in my thoughts", and even "With Sympathy".

If you want to see a blog post and video from Catherine Pooler (which inspired some of my cards) click here. 

I used products from Catherine Pooler Designs and Memory Box (available at Craftie Café).  I used Rhubarb Stalk and Sweet Plum inks from Memento (both muted colours) and Versamark ink for a subtle watermark on the background.

Happy Stamping...
Love