The hardest cards to make...

Hello, sometimes we have to make those difficult cards. I know, you're thinking of cards for men since Father's Day is coming up! Unfortunately although they can be troublesome, cards to offer sympathy and thoughts for someone going through a difficult time can be so much more problematic.

There are no hard and fast rules for such cards. Should you use colour? Are muted shades or monochromatic schemes better? Can you add a little bling? What about sentiments and verses? Should the design be simple? There are so many things to consider when creating such a card.

Having seen the fabulous new colour, Grey Granite - it's softer than Smokey Slate with a slight nod towards beige - I decided this would be the perfect colour for a thinking of you card. I've used a retired set called Summer Silhouette as although I know there is a brilliant stamp set called Dandelion Wishes in the new catalogue, it wasn't available  to order although it will be by the time you see this post. I'll add it to the list below.

Dandelion Wishes

I started with a Whisper White card base and added a Granite Grey layer that had random white dots stamped onto it. I used to use Gorgeous Gunge but it has now retired. Luckily, I discovered there is a replacement stamp in the Waterfront set. Certainly different, but perfect for this card. The sentiment from Heartfelt Blooms was stamped in Whisper White towards the bottom right. For tonal interest I added a band of Basic Grey ribbon across the centre.

The flower was stamped onto a piece of grey card and diecut into an oval, before being placed onto a scalloped white oval. This in turn was place slightly to the left on the base card, using dimensionals.

Now I had planned to to just use grey and white for this card. However, I felt it looked too bland. I punched a butterfly out of vellum and coloured it with Watercolour Pencils, blending the colours together for a soft look. I also used Wink of Stella for a little shimmer. But where to place it? 

I'm not normally this indecisive! In the end I went with the placement in the right hand picture. I also stamped the inside of the card and the envelope for a cohesive look.

I hope you like the finished card, maybe it's even inspired you to create something beautiful.

Bev🎕

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