A male sympathy card

With the terrible events in Paris today, it seems very appropriate to post a sympathy card, and I made this one as my entry to the current challenge at The Male Room, which is Remembrance or Sympathy.

I find sympathy cards the hardest of all to make, and harder still for men as my usual themes of lilies or butterflies can seem a bit too feminine. I do think a very CAS style is called for, it isn't a time for anything too elaborate or fussy, unless you know the person well and know it is what they would appreciate. So I've kept it very, very simple and made a one layer card by stamping this leaf image (sorry, it's a very old unmounted stamp and I can't remember  the manufacturer)  first in grey and then at an angle in black, so the grey looks like a shadow, then adding the sentiment which is an Anna Griffin stamp.

With such a simple one layer card, positioning of the images can really make or mar the design, so I use a stamp positioner for accurate placement. It has the added advantage of helping you to see what each image would look like in various places - by stamping the text on the clear positioning sheet, I was able to get a good idea what it would look like in various places on the card before choosing to place it where I did.