Making sympathy cards can be difficult especially if the card is for someone special to you. When I am making a handmade sympathy card I generally keep the theme very simple.

To make this sympathy card use a folding board and bone tool to fold a piece of black card. I have made this card DL sized. DL is a popular size because the front of the card is not too big so you will not have to use up much of your craft supplies to decorate the front of the card.

It is also a size that you know can be posted without having to take it to a post office to have the size measured due to new postage restrictions, so it is a good size to use and you will have no problem finding envelopes to fit the card

Find a piece of paper that is not bright in color and is fitting for a sympathy cards theme. In this case I have used a floral design. The paper itself has a lignin feel rather like lace so the card will have a texture once created.

Next, cut around the flowers so the background can no longer be seen. Use very sharp cutters and remember to keep hold of any off cuts so that they can be re used for other card making ideas you may have.

Use glue or sticky dots to attach the paper to the front of your sympathy card. To avoid the glue showing take extra care and place the ink on the patterned paper rather than the front of the card before fixing it in place.

You can use peel off stickers for the sympathy card wording. Here I have placed the words onto black card then mat and layered it onto silver card. I used 3D foam to give the wording some depth. Rub ons would work just as well or even a quote that is to do with loss.

If the card is for someone close to you, you may want to make it more personal by writing your own sympathy card wording.

You can then attach the wording to the card. I used double sided tape in this instance but if you wanted to give your sympathy card wording even more depth you could add in another layer of 3D foam to make it stand out.

The idea for this card could easily be used for a happy birthday card, anniversary card or any occasion or that matte by simply changing the wording and adding some embellishments. If you change the base of the card from black to say blue, pink, white or a brighter color you can totally change the mood of the card entirely.