A Last Gift

I never knew it would be so hard to say "goodbye" to a life that's always been a part of my life.

These were the hardest cards to begin.

Dad passed away in the early hour of September 5th, and amid all the other things that needed to be done--decisions to be made, places to be notified-- I needed a lot of thank-you cards.  Fast.

At first it seemed like a good idea to create one design and copy it on the computer.  It sounded easy.  It wasn't.  I tried three or four times and hated the results.  I felt like a failure.

I cleared all those attempts away, sat down and started fresh...on one single card.

Dad grew up on a farm near Severy, Kansas, driving the horses to plough the fields when he was six years old.  So I wanted to image of a sunrise or sunset.  Digging through my box of stamps, I picked out these wildflowers from Inkadinkado to use as a silhouette.

However, they wouldn't cover a whole width of card, even a small one, so I tried masking, creating a border with masking tape.  Then I sponged sunset colors, using pastels for a soft look.  I stamped thee flowers with black dye ink.

I loved the look, but it was too much trouble.  Too much time and masking tape for 20-30 cards.

Aha!  (Why didn't I think of it before?)  I decided to cut rectangles of cardstock, sponge, stamp, let dry, and then TRIM the edges before adding calligraphy and gluing to a small card front.

I don't remember where I came across this quote from Thoreau, but it seemed fitting.  Not too gushy.
Dad was never a happy man--not with his family.  Since he passed away I found myself mourning the good times we all could have shared...if only...

I wish he could have seen heaven all around him.

These cards were my last gift to him.

You can find them for sale on my Etsy shop: https://www.etsy.com/listing/639800056/sympathy-cards-set-of-three-condolence?click_key=08953e161bec8a4d0ad7d72da3d8b998634a3df3%3A639800056&click_sum=7bd6e2e3&ref=shop_home_active_24

Cardstock:  Hobby Lobby, Inc.

Ink:  Momenta Tuxedo Black Imagine Crafts/Tsukineko

Stamp:  Meadow Set (Inkadinkado)

Soft pastels (Faber-Castell)

Sumi ink and Brause nib