"BLENDED BLOOM" MOTHER'S DAY CARDS

It's not that I didn't know Mother's Day was fast approaching, so there's no excuse for having to stay up until 3:30 a.m. finishing starting special cards that needed to get in the mail ASAP.  I used Stampin' Up!'s Blended Bloom stamp and Blendabilities for two of the cards.  The first one was colored with Cherry Cobbler markers (I'm having a hard time not calling the Cherry Cobbler Blendabilities my favorite), and I kept the overall card design really simple.  I'll be honest . . . it takes a while to color all of the petals on the stamped image, and yet I don't seem to care about that because it's ridiculously EASY to end up with all of those shades and shadows.  Even though I used Cherry Cobbler markers, I thought that my finished flower looked best on Real Red card stock, and I think that's So Saffron card stock that I used for the sentiment strip, although it may be Hello Honey, one of the new In Colors.  For my second card (same design), I used the Rich Razzleberry Stampin' Blendabilities Markers.   BTW, the whitish highlights were created with the Color Lifter.

Forgive the photos . . . it's impossible to mimic daylight at three-my-eyes-are-falling a.m., and yet the camera has no trouble picking up tiny little places where a marker forgot to go.  It seems that mistakes and oversights just shine in any light.  I didn't dare walk my finished cards to the mailbox that late at night--didn't want to encounter a snake, coyote, or other scurrying animal--but I hopped out of bed a few hours later and got them to the box before the mailman came.  Whew!