For most of us, Sympathy Cards are probably the hardest to make.

We want something that will get our thoughts across, but don’t want something that’s gawdy or overly done.

Several times I’ve needed to send a Sympathy Card, but rather than try and tackle it myself, I’ve gone out and bought one. Last week, one of the challenges on Stamp TV was to make a sympathy card. This time, rather than duck out, I decided to bite the bullet and give it a go.

Here’s the card I came up with:

I was aiming for simple yet elegant, as I feel that’s what is called for in a sympathy card.

I embossed the top layer (plain white) cardstock with a Houndstooth embossing folder, embossing only about three quarters of the way down the card.

The ribbon is hand-dyed, using seam binding and Tim Holtz Tumbled Glass distress ink. But that needs to go on after the last third of the card has been stamped.

Below the ribbon is a flower stamp – this is from the True Love set.  I often make my own design paper, and this is one of my favourite stamps to use. Again, I used the same ink, then when it was dry, I stamped “With Sympathy” using Stazon Jet Black, making sure to leave enough room to place the flower without covering the sentiment.

Next the dyed ribbon can be added.  I added a tiny piece of double-sided tape on the left hand side of the card, underneath where I was going to place the ribbon. You can have it run all the way across, but I decided not to do that this time.  The seam binding is fairly sheer, and I didn’t want the tape to be seen through it.

Make sure you add some double-sided tape on the back at either side. This is how you will attach the ribbon.

Next to go on is the flower.  It was made using Spellbinders Blossoms One die.  I cut out two from this die as I wanted this flower to be quite full.  Both were cut from coffee filters which have been sitting in my cupboard for years unused. (A friend put me onto this, and I thought it was worth a try!)

After rolling and glueing the flower together (but not onto the cardstock at this point), I spritzed the flower with water, then coloured the tips of the flower using the same distress ink Tumbled Glass distress ink. Once the colour was on, I added a white pearl brad to the centre of the flower, pushing the clasps of the brad behind the white card topper.  After it was attached, I scrunched the flower to make it look more realistic.

Last but not least, I sponged the edges of card base with Tim Holtz Tumbled Glass distress ink, then put the card together. I used wet glue, but you could also use double-sided tape. (I find double-sided tape fiddly for large areas, so tend to use it for much smaller areas.)