Sending sympathy

For some time now, I've had some Mat Stack 3 panels in Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake and Baja Breeze sitting on my desk, waiting for an idea. I seem to be very productive lately with PTI's Iconic Images so I decided to stamp the bird image and thought it might make a good sympathy card. The sentiment is from Stampin' Up!'s Petite Pairs.

I sponged the edge of the Baja Breeze panel with Crumb Cake ink so it would stand out against the base layer. The ribbon is Crumb Cake taffeta and the button is from SU's Twitterpated collection (in the Occasions mini catalog) - I love these buttons!

At first I thought I would love this bird panel on the Crumb Cake base which was stamped with one of the background stamps from PTI's Background Basics: Text Style. I have been making a lot of backgrounds with this set during the last few weeks and loving the effect.

But this card just creeps me out. (I think it reminds me of Edgar Allen Poe's poem The Raven...) I mean, it's supposed to comfort someone, not give them the heebie-jeebies!

So I put together another panel, just like the first one, and used a Baja Breeze base this time with an overlay of Very Vanilla cut from PTI's Quatrefoil die. What a difference, don't you think? The brighter background lifts the rather somber panel and makes it much more friendly, and soothing.

I think I'm going to lift off the panel from the first card and remake it like the second. (And read something cheery before bed to fend off the nightmares...)