With Sympathy

Sympathy cards are the hardest cards to make, I think. I want them to be a bit elegant, yet clean and simple and to convey my heartfelt sympathy to the recipient. I used the “let the paper work for you” technique again here, and I think it worked well.

I started with a journaling card by Webster’s Pages, stamped the sentiment (Papertrey Ink’s Birds of a Feather), and tied a ribbon (Paper Source) around the Memory Box card. I can always find an appropriate sentiment for the inside in Papertrey’s With Sympathy set. 

For this card I used a piece of paper from Pink Paislee’s “Butterfly Garden” mini-pad adhered to some Ripe Avocado cardstock by Papertrey Ink. These printed papers are almost gone now, and I wish I had some more of them. I used the same stamp, and my last piece of moss green ribbon from Paper Source.

We’ve kept up the frantic pace around here. The basement has been cleaned and purged; many bags to the garbage and to Goodwill. There’s still a large box of heirloom items from my family that need to be cleaned and appraised after the holidays, but finally everything has a place and is packed away in plastic boxes or bags so they won’t need so much cleaning in the future.

I’ve just about finished two baby albums, but they can’t be shown here for awhile as well as another banner for a second shower. About half my Christmas cards are finished. The rest will have to wait until I return from California and Oregon with a fresh supply of paper from Paper Source. Invitations to a holiday open house are also completed so they can be mailed before we leave.

The subway tiles were installed in the kitchen last week, and they look fantastic. We’re still waiting for the painters, but I’m hopeful they’ll show up this week though our contractor has yet to get a firm commitment from them. Maybe because it’s the last thing that needs to be done (except for a final finish on the floor), and maybe because it’s now been twice as long as the original estimate of time, but this delay is the most frustrating one we’ve had. I never expected I’d be decorating for the holidays and the kitchen would not be completed. But, that too, is happening since we’ll be entertaining shortly after we return. I do love decorating for Christmas, but it seems odd to be moving from summer decorations right to Christmas. I never did get the fall decorations out. With the construction, it seemed rather pointless. Our unusually warm November temperatures also make decorating for the holiday seem a bit odd.

I’m doing the best I can to keep up with all your wonderful blog posts, but once I’m on our trip I should be able to catch up!