BLANK NOTE CARDS FOR MOTHER

 

My mother casually mentioned recently that she could use some cards without sentiments, and that seemed like a great Mother's Day gift . . . and a fun card-making session for me.  I think I ended up making about 12 cards and will be sharing photos of them in the next few blog posts.  The cards that I'm sharing today feature an adorable birdhouse from Stampin' Up!'s "Garden Birdhouses" stamp set and a watercolored wreath from Art Impressions' "Greenery Invites" stamp set.  For a couple of years, I have enjoyed (and been "collecting") Art Impressions stamps designed for watercoloring, but making the cards that I'm sharing today was the first time that I have worked with images from "Greenery Invites".  Oh. My. Word!!!!  What took me so long?!?!  I cannot even find the words to describe how much I enjoyed coloring the stamped wreaths!  

Those little die-cut birds?  They're from Poppy Stamps (Whittle Birds), and I cut them from Stampin' Up!'s "Blue Foils" which were part of the "Waves of the Ocean" collection.  This may have also been the first time that I have used the Whittle Birds dies, and they seemed so perfect along with the birdhouse.

Above is another sample that's very similar to the first card.  Anyone who has visited my blog for years will know how much I 💗 gingham.  It never disappoints when my project needs just a little something--but not too much.  

On each of my wreaths, I added random splashes of glimmer with a Wink of Stella brush.  On the next card, which was actually the first wreath image that I watercolored, it's obvious that I stayed "safe" by not getting colors too dark.

I really liked the assorted colors on the leaves.  Gold foil seemed like a good choice for the die-cut birds on this card.

I was really pleased with these three cards and look forward to watercoloring the "Greenery Invites" wreaths again soon!

MOTHER'S DAY CARDS

 

Is it just me, or did it seem like Mother's Day came early this year?  It was beginning to look like I might not have time to get cards made and mailed--but I did.  Better still . . . they were all received before the big day!  

I only made two designs this year, and this first one features "In Good Taste" designer paper and the "Flowers of Friendship" stamp set and coordinating punch.  I don't know why I waited so long to get this bundle, but I love it!  The design was quite simple but not boring.

My second design took more time.  Since I wanted to foil the background, the process began by spreading transfer gel on top of a stencil that was placed on the white cardstock.  The gel needed time to dry, and I gave it just under 24 hours.  Once dry, I placed a piece of Opal foil (by iCraft) on top and ran the cardstock through a laminator.  It doesn't look all that impressive in the above photo, but check out the color/detail in the photos below:

You can see how the transfer gel left a raised design from the stencil.  In the photo below, you can better see the gorgeous opal color:

The tulip on this card is from the oldie-but-goodie (retired in 2006) "Terrific Tulips" stamp set from Stampin' Up! It's 25 years old to the company--18 years old to me.  I earned it as a free hostess reward in February 2004--one month before I became a demonstrator.  

On some of my tulip cards, I embellished with Brushed Brass Butterflies, and others were embellished with (retired) Gingham Gala Sequins that had the same "opalescent" coloring as the stenciled background.  

Hopefully, I'll get an earlier start on my Mother's Day cards next year so it won't be so stressful!  😉