Bereavement Cards - The Elephant In The Room...

If someone says you have too many dies, stop talking to them. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life. 

Speaking of dies, I've recently acquired a haul of Tonic Sentiment Dies and goodness they are useful! I've been crafitng just over a year now, and I don't think I've ever seen more than a couple bereavement cards in craft groups which got me thinking...

why are bereavement cards the elephant in the room?

Brits love talking about cups of tea, puddings, what they're having for lunch and England winning the 1966 World Cup. They enthusiastically discuss the weather and some nutter called Guy Fawkes! They LOVE to tell you all the bargains they found...oooh ah, Margaret, I was in shop today and picked up 2 kilo of apples for 50p! 

Now Iris, that's nothin... our Michael went to butchers last Sunday and picked up 3 pork chops, a small loaf. 2 slightly burnt pasties and a pickled egg for 34p. You can't beat a bit of a bargain, now can ya?
While you're up dear, put the kettle on. It looks like it's going to rain so best get the bread puddin in the oven. And so on and so forth.

Even worse are mothers discussing Charlie's chunky vomit, the colour of poop and the consistency of baby bogies. 

But when it comes to bereavement cards...nothing.  

Why shouldn't we showcase them? I put in as much care and detail in my sympathy cards as I do any other cards, so let's start celebrating ALL handmade cards.   

Yea, so I'm probably breaking some silent crafting code but here are four sympathy cards lovingly made today. And now when asked, I'll have a few set aside which hold the same importance as any other cards in my stash. 

Tonic Materials: 
Heartfely Sympathy Sentiment Die
Thinking of You Sentiment DIe

Beautiful Blooms Dies (various) 

Craft Perfect Sparking Star Flower

Glue Pen
Celtic Dream Layering Die Set

Other Materials:

Papermill Direct black/white card

Crafters Companion Deep Purple Cetura Pearl

Craftwork Cards Purple Vellum

Craftwork Cards Candi

Sizzix Flower & Butterfly Die

Gems, ribbon

We R Memory Keepers Next Generation Geometric Embossing Folder

Elmers No Wrinkle Rubber Cement Glue

First up was this cool geo embossing folder which showcased the Tonic sentiment perfectly and adds dimension and interest without being tacky. I matt and layered a few times, as well as on the inside of the card, which finishes the card perfectly and ensures the weight is distributed evenly. I added one mini butterfly on the front of the card and two on the inside bottom corners for balance. 

Deep Purple Centura Pearl Card was used for the next card. I layered up the Tonic sentiment a couple times and used the inner flower to cut into the card base. I then cut out another Beautiful Bloom in Deep Purple and layered it over the card base cut out. It was still missing something so added a Tonic Craft Perfect Sparkling Star Flower but swapped the gold stamen for a white Craftwork Cards Candi and popped more Candi in each corner. I then lined the inside of the card with the lush Craftwork Cards thick purple vellum. A final touch was one of the swirls from the Beautiful Blooms in white and deep purple a couple times and layered them up.  

For my third card I cut the front of the card base so it measured 4" wide but left the back at 5.8". I then cut out one of the Tonic Beautiful Blooms inside of the flower onto black card stock three times and placed it on the inside of the card. As the front of the card base had been cut, you can see the blooms perfectly. I think this effect is really lovely and shall be using it more often. I used the Tonic Heartfelt Sypathy Die Cut again and also a Sizzix flowery/leaft die and some gems to finish. 

Slightly different view, isn't it lovely?

And finally I made one with a little more detail but still easily fits into a 6x6 envelope as there is minimal dimension. I used dark maroon and ivory card, Celtic Dream Layering Die Set  and  the Thinking of You Sentiment from Tonic. Also used as a gem, some ribbon and a little flower die to complete this card. 

I absolutely adore the Tonic Beautiful Blooms Die Sets - there are shedloads of them and can be used for practically any occasion. You can buy them here

Tonic Miniature Moments Heartfelt Sypathy Die is here

Tonic Miniature Moments Thinking Of You Die is here

The Celtic Dream Layering Die Set is here

I wonder how many of you agree with me regarding bereavement cards and wonder if we'll ever see them 'out there' in the virtual arena?

Have a great day! 

Jennifer x