Sympathy Lilies

My mom visited recently and took with her the majority of the cards I've created over the past year - some to gift to friends, others to use herself. On one hand, this was wonderful! My cards will find a happy home somewhere and really brighten someone's day. On the other hand, it's left me with an empty stash that really needs to be replenished.

When it comes to sympathy cards, my go-to idea is simple and elegant flowers with a simple sentiment. For this card, I chose Taylored Expressions' Calla Lily Bouquet stamp. It's a lovely and large vase of flowers, and it has sentiments that also make it perfect for Easter, Mothers' Day or just "thinking of you".

I decided to go with watercolors this time, and wanted to soften the image contrast a bit, so I stamped them in brown. I used distress markers to water-color the image. There wasn't anything exceptional about my coloring here, I just did a simple wash of color without much shading and let the colors pool in around the darkest parts of the stamp.

When the watercolor piece was dry, I stamped the sentiment and trimmed it down. I wanted to do a subtle frame around it, so I used a piece of white cardstock to mat the front panel. I then adhered it to a raspberry Avery Elle notecard.

The notecard is a pretty bright color, so one might hesitate to use it for a somber occasion. But I think it works here because it contrasts with the front panel and makes the lilies stand out a little better. Another color I considered was a light blue - which would have echoed in the vase color. I preferred how the pink looked, though, and that's what I ultimately chose.

For this card, I hope I won't have a chance to use it for a very long time. :)

Thanks for reading!
~Elle~