Hi there! Emily Midgett here with you today, and I have a sympathy card for you created with Darling Dahlias, Oval Spotlight Stencils, and With Sympathy stamps and dies. Sympathy cards often are quite difficult to make, not simply because of the subject matter, but also because they must not be too cheerful with color or embellishments. I find that it’s easier to create sympathy cards and have them on hand rather than having to create them as they’re needed.

I began by stamping a small cluster of flowers on watercolor paper using the Darling Dahlias stamp set and some no-line coloring ink. I also used one of the stencils from Oval Spotlight Stencils to lightly pencil an oval around the floral cluster. The oval frame helps to ground the flowers.

I used some Prima watercolors to watercolor the image, using a variety of colors to create an almost marbled background, and taking care to keep the paint within the edges of my penciled oval frame. I used the same colors from within the frame to add some highlights and other colors to the flower, adding interest to the flower to keep it from being too flat.

I trimmed the panel down and mounted it on an A2 panel of coral cardstock. I die cut and heat embossed a sentiment from the With Sympathy stamps and dies on some dark gray cardstock. The deep gray helps the sentiment pop from the muted colors of the flower and oval frame in the background.

Well, that’s all for me today. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!