A Sad Week and A Special Card

It has been a difficult week this week: on 27 October, just one day before his 80th birthday, my lovely Dad passed away peacefully in his sleep. It was expected but no less heartbreaking when it actually happened. Dad was a warm, gentle, generous, kind, musical, artistic, creative superhero of a man, and I miss him very much. 

Dad was diagnosed with dementia almost 11 years ago and we were lucky enough to still have the Dad we knew for many of those years. The decline began a couple of years ago and accelerated rapidly this year. Despite the covid situation, we were able to find him a place in a local nursing home, where he lived happily for the last few months of his life. The staff were incredible and we could tell that he loved them as family and felt safe in their presence. They treated him with such love, respect, care and understanding and we could not have asked for anything more . 

It is always impossible to say a sufficient 'thank you' to people who have worked so hard and given so much, but I feel they will appreciate the time and love that went into this card.

I'm not going to give a lot of detail about the card today - it was an emotional make and I didn't really make notes about the nuts and bolts of  it all. Suffice it to say that all the dies, stamps and inks were from Altenew and I thank Lydia Evans for her inspiration for the vellum layer in the leaf frame.

 

It took me a long time to decide how this card would look - I started simply by stamping some of my favourite flowers in a gentle colour palette and playing around for hours (literally), coming back several times to make changes. Eventually I was happy with the layout and stuck everything down before I could change my mind again! I think I was just so conscious of everything this card had to say, without words, that I stymied myself a little at the beginning.

I think the dark background really lets the foreground 'pop' and it brings a little soberness to the card, given its reason for being. 

To finish off I added a few clear drops rather than sequins -  they felt like a more fitting embellishment. 

As always, thank you for taking the time to read - I'd love you to leave a comment to let me know you have been here. 

Until next time, stay safe and keep crafting.

Peri x