This week’s Just Add Ink challenge is to make a sympathy card.  And this really was quite a challenge for me.  As many of you know, my Mum passed away earlier this year, and I received some gorgeous sympathy cards from many of my stamping friends.  But I know how difficult it is to make one, even though, realistically, there isn’t a right or wrong sympathy card.
But with this challenge, I wanted to make a card that was fairly simple, ie not too many accessories, but that also gave the feeling of what it is like to lose someone very close to you.  That feeling of loneliness and emptiness, of a huge hole in your life and the knowledge that life will never be the same again.

I have used the Pendant Park Stamp Set, and while I really love the seat with the little squirrels on it, I thought it had more impact as just an empty seat.  I have also done some very light sponging using a reverse masking technique, for some background interest, but it looks better in real life than in the photo.

I am not sure if I have achieved what I wanted to with this card, but there is a poem that my husband read out at Mum’s funeral service that I would like to share with you, and hope my card come somewhere close to the feelings it invokes.
Have a great day and happy stamping
Chris

Do not stand at my grave and weep;
I am not there.  I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glints on the snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain,
And I am the gentle Autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning’s hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
So do not stand at my grave and cry.
I am not there.  I did not die.