Altenew June Challenge and Sympathy Cards

On the Altenew blog in June, the challenge is about white on white. The inspiration comes from a bouquet of flowers featuring white roses and the inspiration colors are: burgundy, pink and white. I had a difficult time with this challenge for two reasons-1) burgundy reminds me of my elementary school uniform and 2) how do you stamp a white rose on white cardstock?

First I came up with why I needed a card in the first place. I wanted to celebrate a friend who was entering hospice after a four year battle with breast cancer. I wanted to make her a card to let her know how much she meant to me and how influential she had been in my life. I started with stamping a white rose from Altenew's Bold Blossom stamp set on white paper with gray ink and after that failed miserably, I tried stamping the same rose with perfect pearls on burgundy paper; this worked much better. I masked off the rose and stamped the leaves and other flowers from Altenew's Botanical Garden in gray ink. I then colored those flowers and leaves in with colored pencils. I love how soft the colored pencils make the flowers look.

After completing the stamping and coloring, I finished off the card with a piece of vellum stamped and gold heat embossed with the sentiment: You inspire me and added twine. The Hero Arts pink card base has Hero Arts burgundy ink and perfect pearls in gold stamped on the background using My Favorite Things Diagonal Stamp. I love how the perfect pearls makes the rose shine on this card.

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I did not get to use my card because just after I completed it, my friend passed away. I sat with what to do for sometime and felt like I needed to make her family a sympathy card to let her family know how much I cared and was keeping them in my thoughts and prayers. This card did not keep with the spirit of the challenge but I used Altenew Bold Blosson floral stamps because I love their designs and this set just spoke to me somehow. After a few iterations, I came up with the idea of wildflowers in a pitcher. Wildflowers are so beautiful but fleeting; once they flower, they adorn the landscape for a short while but spread their seeds far and wide and you are never sure where next year's flowers will show up in your garden.

To me, sympathy cards always seem sad....that lonely flower on a sea of white card stock. I would rather focus on the connections and community every one builds around each other. I wish sympathy cards showed designs that celebrated the happiness of love, family, community and all those relationships each one of us has as we move through our lives instead of focusing on the loss. With this last card, I was going for the celebration of those connections and for the love and respect I have for my friend and her family. Thank you for visiting my blog. I hope you are inspired to reach out to your community and celebrate all those relationships from your everyday.