Missing Merlin

Making sympathy cards is invariably our least favourite task but they’re arguably the most appreciated of all the cards we send.  My card this week was made for my sister and brother-in-law who had to say goodbye to one of their cats last week.  This post is dedicated to the memory of Merlin.

Merlin was such a lovely natured, friendly cat and loved nothing more that getting a lot of fuss - from anyone, he wasn’t picky!  His nickname was Merlie-Moos but was also affectionately known as the Fuss Sponge.  He was fortunate enough to live to almost 18 years old with very few ailments until about 18 months ago when he developed kidney troubles, a common problem in elderly cats. He had a great life in a loving home and will be dearly missed.

For the card, I wanted the theme to be the rainbow bridge.  After drawing out a rainbow shape on scrap paper, I cut it out to create masks which were taped in place on a square panel.  I then used the Newton’s Nook Paw Prints stencil, red, yellow and blue ink pads and a small stencil brush to create the rainbow.

After inking the paw prints, the rainbow didn’t look quite right and I thought it needed edges so I cut it out and glued some black card on the back and cut out leaving a small border.

The black border seemed too harsh so I trimmed the black border off and just ran the edge of the rainbow along my gold ink pad, which looked much better.  The sentiment is from Waffle Flower's Rainbow Bridge and is one of my favourites to use on any sympathy card.  I stamped with Versafine Clair Nocturne and topped with clear embossing powder.

Lastly the card was finished with some heart accents and a cat silhouette from Impression Obsession.

Run free over the rainbow bridge, Merlin 🐾