A sympathy card with love

Hi blog friends!

I am back from my travels with Gav’s family! We had a WONDERFUL time in Asia cruising on the BRAND NEW Ovation of the Seas on her MAIDEN voyage! What a stunning ship! Our balcony cabin was sooo gorgeous and comfortable. They have definitely ‘upped’ the wow factor both in the cabins and over all the ship. Wow! We were very impressed. Yes … we had a few queues from time to time … a few hiccups that I am sure are just teething problems and will be sorted quickly (after all – there were over 4,500 people on board!)  … but really I cannot commend Royal Caribbean enough for making our holiday so very special. It was amazing. I was so pleasantly surprised how much I did enjoy visiting some of the Asian cities too! After being a little apprehensive, I was absolutely fascinated with the history and the culture and some of the cities were simply beautiful. Lots of greenery and very clean. At other times the poverty was quite obvious and saddened me … but the smiles on the peoples faces showed that they were content and happy! I am keen to return which is a total surprise to me to find myself saying that! 🙂

While we were away … my dear brother in law lost his sister to cancer. It was a long, brave battle and not an unexpected outcome but still very sad for him and for my sister and the wider family. I had actually made a couple of sympathy cards in anticipation before I left for our holiday and we heard the news when we were in Vietnam. I am sending out hugs with this post for my dear family who are grieving at this time.

Just before we left my dear hubby’s uncle also passed away after a struggle with cancer and Gav was able to travel up to Q’ld with Skye & Shane to attend his funeral. It was another sad occasion. Life can sometimes be hard! I made two of each of a few different sympathy cards which went to different members of both the affected families.

I was actually quite happy with this card. It is probably one of my most satisfying results in a long time. Of course … the inspiration was from a old/new favourite … Laura Bassen. Old – I have been a fan of Laura for years + New – have recently been following her creations for SSS and been totally smitten again! 😀

The colouring is done with COPICs and each of the petals and leaves have some added clear Wink of Stella for subtle shimmer. I fussy cut every one of the flowers and leaves (X2)!!! And … later they released a matching die set … which I am now in possession of!!! 😉

Click on any of the above pictures to view slideshow of close ups.

Card Inspiration: Laura Bassen (laurafadora)

Simon Says Stamps – Spring Flowers

SU! – sentiment

I will share the other sympathy cards I made sometime soon.

Hugs xxx