Sympathy. . 2018 Cat Lovers Hop, Day 4

Thanks for joining me on Day 4 of the Cat Lovers Hop 2018!

You can check out all the details here {link to the FAQ and Info page}, at Her Peaceful Garden {this is the link to the main hop page}! Hope you can join in, there are tons of fabulous prizes!  This is a sad one, so get some tissues 😢

My two best friends in the whole world lost their pets in a two week time span.  Tom had to put his dog, Bear, down due to a suspected tumor in his spinal column.  Rather suddenly, Bear, who was about 5 years old and 17 pounds, stopped jumping to greet people, he wouldn't get on the couch, wouldn't eat, and generally seemed to be in a bad way.  Not two days after he began to exhibit these symptoms, Tom noticed that he was beginning to drag his hind legs.  Unfortunately, the tumor had grown and was now either pressing on his spine or a disc and essentially paralyzing him.  There was nothing that could be done. 

Diane's cat was 17 years old and she had stomach cancer.  Kitteny went to meet Bear and all the others a week after her diagnosis.  Now, Tom is a "manly man" and I know he would not appreciate a sympathy card {plus, he & I live about 15 minutes from each other} while Diane lives back East and I know she needs all the support she can get. I needed to express my feelings about both of these unfortunate events, so I made Diane a card.

What I Used to Make my Card:
White Card Base
KaiserCraft Fairy Garden, 6.5" x 6.5" pad, #PP1039
Distress Ink in Hickory Smoke
Simon Says Stamp, Pawprints on our Hearts Stamp Set, #SSS101425
Simon Says Stamp With Sympathy Die, #SSSD111360
Grey Card
Altenew Modern Cats Stamps & Dies {already colored and cut}

I was pleased that I had the beautiful clouds paper - I felt it worked perfectly with the message I was trying to convey.  I had colored and stamped the cat long ago {as I tend to stamp and color more card pieces than I need - I've ruined far too many projects when I don't have extras!} so once I glued the patterned paper to the white card, then put it under the infamous tile I have on my desk to dry overnight, I decided what I wanted to stamp onto the card, the ink I wanted to use, and cut out the "with sympathy" sentiment, I was done until later.

Once that card base was dry and checked for naughty peeling paper, I stamped directly onto the upper left corner of the card "Cats leave pawprints on our hearts" and glued the "with sympathy" die cut to the bottom right hand corner. 

The cat was put across from the die cut and she was glued down as well.  I have to confess, I have a terrible phobia of stamping directly onto papers when  I have a limited supply of them, and thank goodness I used my Stamp Platform.  I can't even begin to tell you how many things I messed up in the old days due to the placement being crooked or the ink not being dark enough, or not fully filled in.  I am slowly starting to realize that these fabulous inventions, whichever kind you favor, aren't going to let you fail if you take the time to line things up; you can stamp as much as needed without worrying about the ink not completely transferring to your paper.  Wish *I* had thought about {and invented things} to make our lives {as crafters} easier!

I did use the stamp that comes with the Altenew set inside the card.  It just reads "So sorry about the loss of your Cat", but I was so anxious to get this into the mail {it took her birthday card 3 months to get to her but another item I mailed only three days!} since I didn't know if it was going on the same trip as her birthday card or not, that I forgot to take a quick picture.  No worries as you can click the link above, under How I Made my Card, and see all the sentiments that both these fantastic sets offer.  Regardless of the sad nature of the card, I do like it.  I think the gray compliments the colors in the sky very well.  What do you think? Do you have a standard Sympathy card? 

Even though this isn't a happy card, Diane loved it.  I am going to enter it into the Cat Lovers Hop that is held every year by Janis who owns Her Peaceful Garden.  It's a fabulous hop, with tons of great prizes and cat cards!  I hope you can join us - I'll be playing every day from October 22 to the 27, 2018.

Thanks for stopping by! Christi

I am entering my Sympathy card in the following challenges:
2018 Cat Lovers Hop
The House that Stamps Built - #02418, Anything Goes
Crafty Creations - #377, Anything Goes
TTCRD - Always Anything Goes
SUYP - #35, Anything Goes with a Cat
CraftyHazelnut's Pattern Paper Challenge - M, Anything Goes
Sunny Day Crafting - M, Anything Goes w/Animals