Sending a Caring Thoughts Card | by Colleen Balija

Hi friends!

I don’t know about you, but I never seem to have enough sympathy or thinking of you cards for my friends who may be struggling in life, so I wanted to create one with you today! Colors play a huge role in the message you send in a card, and I’ll be sharing more about that in my post. I’ll be using Grace Contour Layering dies, Kind Hearts stamp, Forest Leaf & Berries Contour Layering die, Rose Bunch Contour Layering die, and Fairy Gemstones. All of these products will be linked at the end of my post.

I knew right away that I wanted to use the bold and beautiful Sending Caring Thoughts sentiment from Kind Hearts stamp, so the next step would be to determine my color scheme to coordinate with that sentiment. As I mentioned earlier, color plays a huge role in the message you convey to the recipient of your card. You wouldn’t want to send a sympathy card in bright red or a congrats card in all black, right? What kind of message would that convey? So, color is important to coordinate with the sentiment of your choosing. Here, I’ve got yellow, teal, and black. The yellow conveys a happy and hopeful message, while teal and black are more subdued. I felt that the balance of yellow with the more subdued colors would convey a thoughtful message of caring and hope that coordinates with my sentiment. If this was a sympathy card, I would likely use flowers in shades of blue rather than yellow.

Now that colors and sentiment have been chosen, it was time to create the background and stamp the sentiment. In the photo above, you can see all the detail in the black background with the white sentiment that seems to pop off the page! Using Grace Contour Layering dies, I die cut each layer in black and adhered them together over a black card base. I die cut just the circle outline from the set, stamped the sentiment using embossing ink, and then embossed it in bright white powder. The sentiment was added with foam tape.

Next, I worked on the flowers and leaves. I wanted ones that would frame the sentiment, so I chose the Rose Bunch Contour Layering dies and the NEW Forest Leaf & Berries Contour Layering dies to tuck in behind the roses! These leafy dies will be PERFECT in your stash!!! I die cut everything and adhered the layers together. Then I used Hero Arts Metallic spray over the flowers and leaves to give a shimmery, bold effect! You can see how vibrant the colors are in the photo below, as well as the details in the BPD dies! Their dies are hands down the best!!!

Once I completed the flowers and leaves, I staged them around the sentiment on the background panel and adhered everything once I was satisfied with placement. One of the flowers was put on foam tape to add a little dimension. I finished with Gemstones over each of the flowers!

I love how much the flowers and leaves pop against that gorgeous black. And the details in the background stand out despite the fact that they are done in one color! I think this card will provide a hug to someone that needs it. Thanks so much for stopping by!