Hello, and happy Monday! I hope that you weathered the storms last night. Here at the farm we had some lightning and heavy rain, but no hail or damaging winds.

In my life, pets are family and I’ve missed sending a couple of pet sympathy cards because I didn’t have any in my box. Can you imagine? I have hundreds of cards in boxes and not the right one! So today I’ve created a simple pet sympathy card using the dog from the Along These Lines stamp set and a layout sketch from page 24 of the annual catalog.

In this photo you can see the way that I’ve used the sketch to created the layout on my card. If you’re struggling for inspiration be sure to check out this page in the catalog. These sketches also work great for scrapbook pages.

Because I wanted to keep this card simple I chose not to add matte layered under the image pieces. But, the images blended into the white base, so I decided to use a technique that I learned in the Virtual Album Retreat Class and used a Blending Brush to add a bit of Highland Heather on the areas where the layers would sit.

I added small strips of the Fresh Freesia Faux Velvet Ribbon to the bottoms of the image layers. I love the feel of this ribbon and find it soothing. The only element that is popped up is the greeting which is from the Unbounded Love stamp set and has been fussy cut. The Black Dots pull the eye to the greeting.

The inside is kept simple with room for a handwritten note. This greeting also comes from the Unbound Love set. If you wanted a bit more interest a dab of ink blending over the words might be a great idea.

The images were stamped on scraps of white cardstock and cut to fit. Here are the approximate sizes if you want to recreate the card:

• Bird 2 5/8″ x 1 3/4″
• Heart 1 3/8″ x 1 1/4″
• Dog 2 3/4″ x 1 3/4″
• Ribbon on bird 1 1/4″
• Ribbon on heart 1″
• Ribbon on dog 1 3/8″

I hope that you have a lovely week and get to spend some time both out in the sunshine and in the craft room.

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