Dramatic Sympathy Card with the Build-A-Garden Leaning Lily

Hi Altenew fans and friends, it's your girl Erica back on the blog and YouTube channel today.

I recently lost one of my little doggies. She was old and had cancer, so it was time, but it still hits hard. This has me in quite a somber mood, hence today's dark and moody color scheme. It is deeply fitting for a sympathy card, and the star of the show today is the lovely Build-A-Garden Leaning Lily. I have made quite a few card projects with this stunning floral collection, but none in the dark and dramatic colors like today's card.

I saw Altenew's very own Lydia Evans make a GORGEOUS card with this specific floral stamp set, and I instantly loved it. Her version was blue, featured gold splatters, and had beautiful pink lilies on it. Absolute perfection! I adored it.

Because I am basically in mourning right now, I thought I'd try something similar but put a dramatic twist on it. I decided to use Jet Black Crafty Necessities Colored Cardstock as my base instead of that gorgeous blue she used.

So swoon-worthy, am I right or am I right?

I did want to make some creative changes so it's not straight-up copying everything. This led me to heat emboss the main outline stamp using crisp gold embossing powder. For this project, I did two panels, which have been ink blended with soft pinks and deep greens using coordinating layering stencils.

In my opinion, gold heat embossing instantly elevates whatever image it is you are stamping. Whether it be a detailed flower stamp or a simple sentiment stamp, it just looks SO good. It adds a touch of elegance and luxury to your paper crafting projects.

After ink blending my little broken heart out with the coordinating layering stencils, I used the matching die-cut to crisp out the shapes.

I almost made the mistake of adding a black artist marker around the edges of the flowers before cutting them out. Luckily, I remembered in time that it looks much more professional and seamless to add that black ink directly to the cut sides of the image afterward. If you get a chance to watch the YouTube video tutorial, you will see exactly what I mean by that technique.

To get that flawless, high-end look on dark cardstock, I used a black Artist Marker (you can find this one in the Artist Alcohol Markers Green Fields set). I carefully colored all around the die-cut flowers to fill in all the white space around the stamp, as well as the white core on the sides of the cuts. If you take a piece of Jet Black cardstock and put your die-cut image on it, you will really see why this extra step makes such a massive difference.

I also used Black Instant Dimension Foam Tape to prop my Leaning Lilies up. I really wanted to create distinct layers and texture on this card. The best part? The Black Instant Dimension Foam Tape is practically INVISIBLE once the whole shebang is put together. It's like magic on dark backgrounds!

The sentiment I chose is also from the Build-A-Garden Leaning Lily stamp set. It says "Wishing you comfort and calm".

It is stamped and heat embossed in gold to keep the entire design cohesive. I used the coordinating sentiment die to cut this out for a flawless, clean finish.

Before I adhered my ink-blended flowers to the Jet Black cardstock background, I splattered some Antique Gold Metallic Ink Spray onto the base. And by splattered, I mean I unscrewed the spray nozzle and tapped it against a paint brush. This creates bigger, dramatic droplets rather than a fine mist on the background.

At this point, I should have referenced my inspiration card again. I struggled a bit to fit my stamped images onto the card without losing too much of the details or having them overlap awkwardly. However, I didn't look back at the reference, and hence the result isn't quite as beautiful and full as Lydia's card.

I even contemplated stamping up another floral branch to fill some of the gaps but decided to fill those empty spaces with some sparkle instead. It's a much quicker cardmaking solution, after all!

I decided to use Black Onyx Gem Sparkles, as I didn't have anything gold left in my Gem Sparkle stash. I know, I'm shocked and outraged that I have let my inventory get to this point, but here we are! We have to pivot. In total honesty, the Black Onyx Gem Sparkles are some of my absolute favorites, so I didn't feel too hard-done by my own mistake in forgetting to reorder the Metallic Gold and Silver Gem Sparkles.

Thanks to the height of the stamped images and the Instant Dimension Foam Tape, the Gem Sparkles acted as the perfect "gap fillers" on the card. I also think that the Black Onyx gems were actually the better choice here. There was already plenty of shimmer and sparkle from the Antique Gold Metallic Ink Spray on the background. Sometimes it's the little things that make you smile, no matter how sad you are.

While I'm relatively happy with how this deep, dramatic card came out, I was itching to stamp up another couple of flowers and make a clean, white version too. I think a bright version would look really pretty! But because I'm in a sad mood and not feeling overly creative, I decided to stop here, put all my stamping supplies away, and go snuggle my remaining dogs instead.

I know this isn't my usual happy and upbeat kind of blog post, but I hope you will show me some grace and compassion this one time while I grieve the loss of my little Gem-Gem.

As a trained florist, where we often use lilies for sympathy bouquets, I think this Build-A-Garden Leaning Lily stamp set (and the coordinating stencils and dies!) will be quite a permanent staple in my crafty stash. It is a remarkably versatile stamp set. It works beautifully for happy occasions like birthdays and weddings, as well as somber ones like sympathy or thinking-of-you cards. Versatile sets are the ones definitely worth getting, so if you haven't already snapped this gorgeous stamp set up, I can highly recommend it.

That is it from me for today. I know all of the photos are of the finished card and there were no step-by-step progress photos, but hopefully, you still enjoyed this post featuring this gorgeous stamp set despite the sad undertones.

I promise to be cheerier in my next post, but I hope you get a chance to watch the accompanying YouTube video as well to see the techniques in action! Thank you so much for spending some time with me today. I will see you in July, and oh boy, is that next Altenew release going to knock your socks off! It's so fabulous and fun, and there is not long to go now.

Happy summer, and happy crafting!

What are your favorite color combinations to use when you need to make a comforting sympathy card?