Believe - a sympathy card

Recently a blogfriend of mine lost her mother and I made this card for her. There is nothing really that can be said in a time like this. Sometimes a picture says more than a thousand words.

The image I have used is called shining on from sweetpea stamps. It's one of the few stamps that are only sold as a single stamp. I knew I had to have it when I first saw it when sweetpea donated money to Haiti when selling it. I think it's quite appropriate to use for a sympathy card.

I started colouring the image with my promarkers in muted colours: skintone and greys. The image got a bit too boring so I used a hint of pink on the wings and butterflies. I'm quite happy with how I managed to make it look like the light from the candle shines on her face.

I used a white twinkling h2o to add that shimmer to the wings and a black sparkle gelly pen on the leaves in her hair and as an "eyeliner". I found the little chain with freshwater pearls and the key laying around in my to-do jewelry pile. I started making an earring out of it and didn't like it. I added the charm "believe" (which it took a while of persistent searching to find). The charm is attached to two hydrangea flowers with a brad. The papers and piece of ribbon is something I've had in my stash for years, but never used. I love the elegant and muted feeling of this card. It doesn't have to be a sympathy card. You could use it as a little different Christmas card too.

I used a sketch from papertake weekly because of its simplicity which I thought was perfect for this type of card. Other challenges I've used:

Flutterby wednesday - your favs.
Moving along with the times - for someone special
Paperplay challenges - monochromatic