Sympathy cards

Hi Friends,

I know I keep apologizing for neglecting my blog, but I am here again to say sorry for the length between posts. Last week proved to be quite eventful. Be advised, I am long-winded for a few paragraphs, so if you want to skip ahead to the projects, I completely understand

My sweet chihuahua, Bella, had exploratory surgery and liver biopsy done on Monday in response to some abnormal blood tests (and exams following those results). We found out that she has a genetic liver condition where she doesn’t have full liver function, so she will be going on a special diet. Thankfully, her recovery from surgery is going well, and she’s acting much more like herself this week (although she’s supposed to be taking it easy until next Monday).

Then on Tuesday, a sweet friend of ours from church passed away. We love their entire family. He was only 56 and had just found out that cancer had returned. Although his cancer had returned, the death was unexpected as he had just completed radiation treatments and not yet started chemotherapy. He left behind a wife of 29 years, a son, and a daughter (and soon to be son-in-law).

I cannot tell you how much I love this family and him. He had such a special relationship with his daughter, Amber, who will be marrying Alex in May. (And I am blessed to be making her invitations). My heart breaks to know that he won’t be walking her down the aisle. They had a relationship the exemplified what a father-daughter relationship should be. He adored her (and his son too). As a woman who has no relationship with her father, and whose father didn’t attend her wedding, seeing their love for each other was always such an encouragement for me. It was a vision of the Heavenly Father’s love for me which I haven’t seen in my own life.

Lest, I continue to go on in a depressing way, I am so excited for Gordon to be in Heaven with his Savior, Jesus Christ, where there are no more tears, and no more pain. No cancer, and no chemo. Gordon was dreading enduring chemo again, and praise the Lord that God spared him of that. I look forward to seeing Gordon again.

Prior to Gordon’s passing, I had made some sympathy cards. We try to send them to families in the church when appropriate, so I like to have some on hand. As we all know, they aren’t the most fun to make, but seriously they are one of the best cards to send to people. I cannot tell you how many times people have expressed their appreciation for receiving a hand-made sympathy card. I would encourage you to make some and more importantly, send them.

I’m going to post a few that I made so that they’re all in one post.

I used some new Hero Arts stamps from their 2012 catalog. (Remember sentiments, Dot Flower Background). I embossed the background, I just think that adds a nice touch of dimension. I like to keep sympathy cards pretty simple, so I find embossing nice to include.

The black lace ribbon is from May Arts.

One note to consider if you are going to stamp your sentiment over the embossing, use Stazon ink. I’ve found that to work, but not die inks. I’ve not tried pigment or chalk inks, so those could work too.

Thanks for stopping in today. I will have a happier card to share tomorrow.

One last thing, there is still a little time left to enter the Lawnscaping challenge, featuring birthday projects.

Hugs and blessings

Nette