Losing a pet is never easy. And to feel the love and care of friends during the moments when your heart is the most raw is so important. That’s why when given reason to make a card for Meghan and her family upon the loss of their young family dog, I made two… because you never know when the occasion will arise that another will be needed.
A friend of mine recently experienced a bad week. She first had to take two cats to the vet to be euthanized (neither were “hers,” but they were part of her extended family, neither cat was ailing due to related circumstances – it was just really bad timing), and then with further bad – no, terrible – timing, three days later, the loss of her family’s dog – a loss made particularly difficult due to the circumstances (hit by car) and the fact that this was the first pet she had lost in her lifetime aside from old age – and even then, she hadn’t lost many. For me, at least when I have to say goodbye, whether planned or unexpected, I now know, after years of experience in the worst sort of hurt there is (to me at least), that there will be better days. That the pain eventually won’t be so piercing. That I will eventually reach a time when the ache isn’t constant, the tears aren’t daily, and the thought of my beloved pet no longer being there hanging over my head like the darkest of clouds every waking second. For Meghan, unfortunately, time will only show her this. And she has to walk through it with two little ones at home, and a husband whose job takes him away for long periods at a time.
My heart breaks for her.
She needs a hug.
I hope a paper hug will help!
So hugs, and hearts, is where I started for this design. I took it two different ways at the end, but each started out as a matching pair.
First stamping and fussy-cutting the sentiment, then die-cutting the hearts, stamping the pet silhouette in a complementary tone, then adding the metallic ink to the wing and halo stamp before adding it to the serene design.
To begin to put the design together, I selected background dies to compose the backdrop, each of which is backed with a panel of plain gray cardstock selected from my pre-cut scraps to further balance the design and draw the eye through.
The heart and sentiment are adhered to foam sheets to pop them off the backdrop and prevent the design from looking too plain.
Inside, the sentiment is stamped in the same color as the pet, and the card is finished with one of my signature envelopes.
Thank you so much for visiting my blog today – you make my day when you do! 🙂
Blessings,
Chrissy
This card can also be found in my gallery on SplitCoast; “recipe” below includes keywords specific to SplitCoast Stampers challenges.
| Title: Hugs for Meghan |
| SCS Keywords: NewtonsNook, sympathy, monochrome |
| Stamps: Furr-Ever Friends (Newton’s Nook), Hugs (Honey Bee Stamps) |
| Ink: Onyx Black (Versafine), Gray Granite (SU) |
| Paper: Neenah Solar White – 80# (elements) & 110# (base), Ms. Sparkle marble paper pack, misc grey cardstock |
| Paper Size: A2 |
| Technique: Monochromatic, die cutting, clean and simple, fussy cutting |
| Accessories: Bold Confetti Die (Hero Arts), Star background die (My Favorite Things), nesting stitched heart dies, Tsukineko All Purpose Ink |
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