Sending Hugs Sympathy Card

A good friend recently lost one of her dogs quite unexpectedly, and I wanted to make a sympathy card for her. She's in the Netherlands, so I needed to keep the card relatively flat for mailing to avoid having it count as a package rather than a letter, so I used embossing and splatters to add dimension and texture rather than my usual go-to of foam tape. 

All papers used for this card are from Your Paper Insider (YPI) box #14 (which is currently shipping with a subscription to YPI's quarterly mystery box of specialty cardstocks). If you'd like to subscribe to Your Paper Insider's quarterly box of mystery papers or shop for any of their specialty paper collections, I'd be so grateful if you shopped with my affiliate link. I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you: Your Paper Insider.

I started my card by creating an A2 card base out of YPI's UltraWhite Smooth Cardtstock. It's a great cardstock for card bases, ink blending and die cutting at 100# weight. 

Next, I trimmed a panel of Dahlia Colorwheel Spellbinders pink cardstock to 4 by 5 1/4 inches arranged a floral stamp from Altenew's Craft-Your-Life: Frozen Moments project kit where it would work with a die cut from Altenew's Earthenware Vases die set. I stamped it in pink for a tone-on-tone look. Then I stamped the sentiment (also from the Frozen Moments kit) before embossing the panel using Altenew's Tufted Elegance 3D embossing folder. 

For the vase, I die cut the largest die from Altenew's Earthenware Vases die set using Blue Moon Cocktail paper. It has a nice shimmer to it. Then I die cut some of the foliage dies that come in the die set using Glama Natural Clear vellum. I arranged the foliage pieces in the vase and adhered the vase to the pink panel using Bearly Art liquid glue. Then I added white splatters using Altenew's Titanium White gouache. To finish the front of the card, I adhered the pink panel to the white card base. I felt like the card needed a bit more balance, so I added black splatters at that point using Altenew's Carbon Black gouache. 

For the inside of the card, I die cut one of the oval frames from the Frozen Moments project kit and used the inside piece to stamp "fondly remembered, deeply missed" from Altenew's Craft-Your-Life: Treasured Memories project kit. (I'll use the frame itself on another project, but you can see part of the frame in the last photo of this post. The Frozen Moments project kit has dies to create 5 different frames and an embossing folder to emboss them all.) I added another die cut foliage piece from the Earthenware Vases set to complete the inside of the card.

If you're interested in doing some crafty shopping at Altenew, I'd be so grateful if you used my affiliate link here: Carrie's Altenew Link.  I receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. Altenew carries many wonderful Craft-Your-Life kits, die sets, and embossing folders like the ones I used here. 

A look at some of the papers I used for the card: 

Challenges I'm entering: 

Can You Handle The Pressure?: ATG with an embossing folder; optional twist of die cuts (1/3; ends 2/25/26)

Crafty Catz: ATG (2/5; ends2/26/26)

Creative Fingers Challenge Blog: ATG (2/3; ends 3/1/26)

A Perfect Time To Craft Open Challenge: ATG (ends at the end of the month)

The Diva's that cut ....paper!: February 2026 and Time for Hero Arts: Red and/or pink colors (1/4; ends at the end of the month)

Ally's Angels: ATG (ends 3/12/26)

Classic Design Challenge Blog: ATG (ends 3/12/26)

Crafty Gals Corner: ATG with twist of Heart (2/3; ends 3/10/26)

Paper Rocks Scissors: ATG with paper and/or scissors (3/5; ends at the end of the month)

Crafter's Cafe: ATG (ends 3/11/26)

613 Avenue Create: ATG with option of Animal Magic (3/8; ends at the end of the month)

Lil Patch of Crafty Friends Challenge ...: ATG (2/3; ends 2/28/26)

We Love to Create mixed media Challenge Blog...sponsored by Polkadoodles: ATG (3/4; ends 2/25/26)

Allsorts challenge blog: Embossing or ATG (2/5; ends 2/26/26)

Polkadoodles Cardmaking, Craft & Scrapbooking Challenge: ATG (3/4; ends 2/26/26)

A Place To Start: ATG with optional twist of Small Critters (3/8; ends at the end of the month)

Digi Choosday Cardmaking & Crafting Challenge: ATG (3/4; ends 3/1/26)

The Paper Funday Challenges: ATG or pastels (3/6; ends at the end of the month)

Word Art Wednesday: ATG (1/5 for the week; 1/10 for the challenge; ends 3/4/26)

As You Like It Challenge: Cute or elegant and why? I love both and tend to choose which style to use according to my intended recipient (cute for my grandchildren for example and elegant for my friends), but my own preference is to create elegant cards like this one for sympathy cards because they convey a more somber tone (2/3; ends 2/26/26)

The Creative Crafters: ATG (2/3; ends 3/8/26)

Aud Sentiments Challenge Blog: Dies and/or Love, Anniversary, Wedding + a sentiment (1/5; ends at the end of the month)

Fab 'n' Funky Challenges: Use dies or punches (ends 3/3/26)

I'd like to leave a blessing for all the lovely visitors to my blog: 

The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you;

The Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.

--Numbers 6: 22-26