Mother's Day is coming...

Mother's Day is approaching and I wanted to make something but I wasn't sure what since I don't really have a specific Mother's Day stamp.  I was flipping through my patterned paper when I came across a sheet with various sentiments on it, in the Fiddlesticks version of a My Mind's Eye Miss Caroline 6x6 pad. I thought I might use one of these blocks as a focus for a card, but I couldn't decide on one so I made two cards.

I love the patterned papers in the Miss Caroline collection so once I decided on which sentiments to use I decided to use at least three other patterns on my card.  I started with the wood grain, chose the plaid to coordinate, then chose a floral to mat the sentiment.

The wood grain had a floral pattern in two corners, one floral section was taller than the other, so I trimmed the backgrounds according to the height of the florals, then matched the rest of the papers to fit the card front.  It just worked out that one sentiment was taller than the other so I placed the tall one with the card that had more wood, and the shorter sentiment fit perfectly on the plaid section of the card that had half wood and half plaid. Its amazing that some things not planned work out so well.:)

Before adhering I lightly sponged all papers with gray ink, and rounded the corners to keep things soft.  Once the main patterns were adhered to the white matting I added some beige seam binding that coordinated nicely.  I also matted the sentiments with just a thin border of white to make them pop out a bit, then matted the white on the floral.

At first I thought I was done, but as I looked at the whole card I felt like something a bit 'more' was needed.  At this point I pulled out some Stampin' Up! self-adhesive pearls and added them in random sizes around the sentiments.  Just the thing that was needed!

I love that some 6x6 packs include sentiment sheets with them.  Since 6x6 patterns are generally shrunk down these sentiments are perfect for cardmaking.  And I think the sentiments I've used here are perfect for Mother's Day!  :)

I would like to include these cards in the following challenges:

1. Creative Stamp Friends - Mother's Day
2. Really Reasonable Ribbon - Mother's Day or Feminine plus ribbon.
3. Speedy Fox Challenge - Use three of something.
4. One Crazy Stamper - Mothers.
5. Party Time Tuesdays - Mums the word.
6. Creative Card Crew - Sentiment as Focal Point.
7. Deep Ocean Challenge - What a Wonderful Woman.
8. The Pink Elephant - All about Mom
9. Craft Your Passion - Torn or distressed edges.
10. Ribbon Carousel - Word to your Mother.
11. Friends of Speedy TV Challenge - Mother's Day

I used the following supplies:

Cardstock:  Stampin' Up! Basic Gray, Whisper White.  My Mind's Eye Miss Caroline Fiddlesticks 6x6 Designer Paper Pad.

Ink:  Stampin' Up!  Going Gray.

Adhesive:  Tombow Mono Permanent Adhesive Runner, Glue Dots, foam squares.

Embellishments:  Ribbon Carousel Croquette Beige Vintage Seam Binding, Stampin' Up! Jewels Basic Pearls.

Tools:  Paper trimmer, scissors, We R Memory Keepers Corner chomper, sponge, We R Memory Keepers brad setter (used the pick end to lift the pearls from the backing sheet and placing on card - works much better than the tweezers I used to use!)

A Cup of Tea for Mom

This latest card seemed to take forever to make because I didn't know where I was going with it, but I love it!

Since so many challenge blogs are having Mother's Day challenges due to the UK holiday, I thought it might be fun to get a Mother's Day card done early (Mother's Day is not until May in North America).  One thing that is pretty consistent in both my Mom's and my husband's Mom's kitchens is if there isn't already a pot of tea on the stove there will be one shortly.  For this reason I started with the Kitch collection of stamps from The Girls' Paperie and used the teapot as a focal point.

I wanted to make something soft and pretty so I thought a combination of cream, brown, and pink would be pretty.  I also decided to haul out some of Pink Paislee's Mistables paper since I haven't played with it since before Christmas and I was in an inky kind of mood.

I first cut the mistables to the size I wanted then used Ranger's Inksentials blending tool to add several colours of Colorbox chalk ink.  I love that stuff!  Once that was done I sprayed a variety of mists on it to add a bit of interest and sparkle.  I was using Shimmerz Paints brand, which is very translucent, so the effect of using them is very subtle, but it is very pretty.

I decided to use a strip of Basic Grey patterned paper along the middle, which I also embossed with a dots folder and inked the edges.  I stamped the teapot on a circle of cream cardstock which had been die cut and embossed with a Nestabilites circle, then inked with the pink and brown ink before the die was removed.  I really like the effect.  Once I whip stitched the strip of patterned paper at one end, and added some ribbon and twine, I added the circle with some foam squares.

I thought some butterflies would look pretty in the mix, but I don't have a small enough butterfly stamp, or punch.  I do have some small butterfly stencils however, so I used the Ranger tool to blend pink and brown ink over the stencil onto kraft cardstock.  I cut the butterflies out, and decided they needed something more, so I added some Sakura glitter pen.  After adhering them with glue dots, and popping their wings up on foam squares, I thought they still looked bare so I added some pink gems.

While at this point there was quite a bit going on on the card I still felt like it needed more so I decided to make some paper flowers.  I didn't come up with this on my own, I saw it somewhere but I can't recall where.  I wish I could so I could give credit!  Anyway, these were super easy.

I started by die cutting several circles (each flower has three) from the plain cream and the patterned kraft.  I inked the edges of each and pierced the middle with a piercing tool to use as a guide, and also to make adding the brad easier later.  I then just cut slits going from the outside edge almost to the middle pierced hole.

Once all circles were cut in this manner I assembled them with a brad and with the flower placed between my finger and the edge of my bone folder I curled the edges a bit. Once they were adhered in place I bent the top layers up and manipulated the petals until they looked like I wanted them too.  They turned out beautifully so I will definitely be using this technique again, I already have an idea - I just have to find the time to execute it!

I didn't have a sentiment stamp to use for the inside so I hand wrote a sentiment included in the back of Spring 2012 Stampers' Sampler Take Ten (one of my favourites).    I love this saying:

I've decided to enter this card in the following challenges:

1. Allsorts Challenge Blog - Three in a row.
2. Catered Crop - Recipie swap in stitches.
3. Lets Ink It Up - Show us your flowers
4. The Pretty Little Ribbon Shop - Spring colours.
5. Pile it On - Up in the Air
6. Moving Along With the Times - Special lady 
7. Basic Grey Challenge - Mother's Day/ Girlie 
8. The Ribbon Carousel - Baker's Twine 
9. Deep Ocean Challenge - Butterflies 
10. Creative Card Crew - Vintage 
11. Papertake Weekly - For the girls or Mum
12. The Pink Elephant - Get krafty
13. Creative Stamp Friends - Spring
14. Stampin' for the Weekend - Shabby chic photo Inspiration  

  15.  Cardabilities - Sketch #51 

 The Supplies I used are as follows:

Cardstock:  Stampin' Up! Very Vanilla.  Recollections Kraft.  Basic Grey Basics Kraft 6x6 Paper Pad.  Pink Paislee Mistables.

Stamps:  The Girls' Paperie Kitch clear stamps.

Ink:  Colorbox Fluid Chalk Ink Chestnut Roan, Rouge, Lipstick Red, Creamy Brown, Alabaster.  Shimmerz Paints Baby's Breath, Cotton Candy, Heavy Metal, Plum Pudding.

Markers:  Stampin' Up! Stampin' Write Markers Chocolate Chip.  Sakura Gelly Roll pen Clear Stardust.

Adhesive:  Tombow Mono Adhesive Runner permanent, Scotch Quick Dry, Glue Dots, Skor Tape, foam squares.

Embellishments:  Creative Charm Vintage brads, We R Memory Keepers Sew Easy Fancy Floss Baker's Twine Cream Soda, American Crafts satin ribbon, pink gems from stash, cream thread from stash.

Tools:  Cuttlebug, Spellbinders Nestabilities Standard Circles Large, Cuttlebug embossing folder Seeing Spots, paper trimmer, scissors, bone folder, paper piercer, sewing needle, Tim Holtz ruler (for piercing before sewing), Plaid Folk Art Peel & Stick painting stencils.