creating a bereavement card, what to say

There are some cards that are not easy to make, and sympathy cards must be at the top of the list. After all, the card you send will intrude into another person's life at a sad time.

I've just made this one for an older lady whose husband died after a long illness. He'd not been home for 9 months, but went from hospital to nursing home.

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I know that she has strong religious beliefs, whereas I do not. This makes the wording inside tricky: I have no wish to ignore her beliefs, nor to offend by anything I say. I decided that to offer sympathy for her loss, whilst being glad that he no longer suffered would be appropriate.

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I found a card blank with a neutral, leafy background which has a lace effect border in sombre shades down the opening edge. I backed the aperture with a piece of black embossed paper. I centralised a clear gel "blessing" sticker on the paper, and found a couple of simple white lily embellishments which I placed at opposite corners.

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I cut a length of black grosgrain ribbon and stuck it down the left hand side with two pieices of double sided foam adhesive, leaving a small gap near the top. I threaded a smaller piece of ribbon through the gap in the foam tape, and knotted it on top, as you can see in the detail photo. Somehow this is less fussy and twee than a bow, and more appropriate for a sympathy card, I think.

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Inside I stuck a piece of plain white paper over the back of the front to hide the trimmings. I then created a white paper inner, and put an adhesive "corner" on the outer two corners, just to tie in with the floral adhesives on the front, in black and creams.

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It's simple, and I know she will appreciate the thought. By the way, sorry the photos are slightly bluish - believe it or not, the wall behind the card is off white,, and not blue, and the card base is white. The camera was clearly "off colour" (sorry, that was cringe-making, wasn't it?).