Chelsea Gardens Mother's Day

Heart 2 Heart challenged us to make something inspired by the cover of this catalog:

 I loved the garden-themed papers of Chelsea Gardens, but it took me a while to think about what I'd make. Then I thought about how my mom knew so much about plants and shrubs and passed on that love to me, so a Mother's Day card was my choice. Even though my mom went to heaven nine years ago, I've had a lot of moms in life so I decided to make one for a friend's mom who was my Sunday School teacher, mentor and inspiration. She's still living in Texas and I need to write her a message about how much she meant to me. One summer when I took Driver's Ed with my friend, my dad dropped me off really early at their house. Mrs. Stewart would come to the door in her robe and let me in before the rest of her house woke up. She was always the perfect hostess. She shared notes she had taken at church or from messages she'd heard, always challenging us to live the Christian life to honor the Lord. When we started dating, her lovely family room in the basement became the meeting place to entertain the young men we dated. She let me borrow her tredle sewing machine when I started sewing most of my clothes. I loved that machine! I even used it to make my wedding dress.  My card will have a lot of details to express my appreciation for her mothering!

The papers are from CTMH Chelsea Gardens and the butterfly and leaves are the Chelsea Gardens Cardmaking stamp set. The sentiment is from the Mother's Garden stamp set. The butterfly and leaves were stamped then cut with the matching die and colored with Copic markers.

Thank you for visiting! I hope you'll have opportunities to share your gratitude with all the moms in your life, and  those who inspire you!

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper March Challenge - anything goes with patterned paper
Create and Inspire Challenge #72 - anything goes/all about moms
D.L.Art March Linky Challenge - anything goes
Heart 2 Heart March Challenge - use the cover inspiration
HeARTful Stamping Challenge - anything goes with stamping

New Chelsea Gardens Poppies

I've made my usual New Year's Resolution to make birthday, anniversary, etc. cards earlier in the month. So far I'm two weeks ahead so I haven't given up yet on the belief I can achieve my resolutions this year. But I do think my resolutions need to be wrapped in prayer with plenty of help from the Lord.

This birthday card uses more of the new Chelsea Gardens paper I used on yesterday's post. Here it has a totally different look by combining the papers with bright scarlet poppies from the new Chelsea Gardens Scrapbooking stamp set.

I stamped the flowers several times, first with Cranberry Ink, then with Poppy Ink on parts that weren't as saturated. There's another "trick" I do sometimes to get good ink coverage on solid stamped images. I stamp scrap paper with Versamark or Pigment ink, then re-ink the stamp with my dye ink. It seems to stick really well on the stamp. I used a Misti to re-stamp the poppies for this card.

The ribbon from the Whimsy Ribbon Pack matches the paper and so would the Charcoal gray dots in the Chelsea Gardens Dots and Gems.

Thank you for visiting! May you be blessed in this new year as you share your creations with those you love!

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

Everybody-Art Challenge #416 -  latest purchase
Heart 2 Heart Challenge - Something new
Heartful Stamping Challenge - anything goes
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Something New
Sweet Stampin' - anything new

January Stamp of the Month Blog Hop - Bloom & Grow

Welcome to our blog hop featuring the lovely Close To My Heart Stamp of the Month, Bloom and Grow. You may have just come from Miss Carrie's Creations. If you'd like to see the entire list of participants, you can find them at Melinda Everitt's post here.

This stamp set features a seed packet embellished with vines and room for a sentiment about growing. I used that seed packet, along with some sponge dauber techniques and the new Chelsea Gardens papers, for my first two cards. 

I inked the seed packet stamp with Sweet Leaf ink, then daubed on some Juniper ink in a few places. The card design was taken from the new Make It From Your Heart Vol. 4 book of card patterns, p.38. I used a sponge dauber for Charcoal Ink to in the edges of the patterned papers (something I used to do a lot).

For my second card, I embossed the seed packet in white for the next card. Then I sponged over the design with Sweet Leaf and Glacier inks, more heavily inking the outer frame with Juniper ink. I dry embossed the light gray linen paper with the Rose embossing folder.

The sentiments in this set can also stand alone without the seed packet. I need two anniversary cards this month, so I made one of them fairly flat for mailing. I layered dovetail scraps of the Chelsea Gardens papers (p.6, Make It From the Heart Vol. 4). Then I silver embossed one of the sentiments on watercolor background paper, along with three of the hearts from the stamp set.
The only element with any dimension is the new cream ribbon, but it's such a soft ribbon it doesn't make a hard knot.

I think silver embossing is perfect for these papers.

This stamp set is only available in January for $5.00 with a $50.00 purchase or for $17.95. You can purchase this set and other new materials shown from your CTMH consultant or , if you don't have one, you can shop here following the links. 
Thank you for visiting! Now you're ready to go  to Melissa Robinson's artwork.

Additional Materials used:

Sweet Leaf Ink, Glacier Ink, Juniper Ink, Charcoal Ink 

#1 - Whisper Thick Twine, Black and White Dots, Sponge Daubers (or value pack) 

#2 - Versamark Ink, Ranger White Superfine Embossing Powder, Tweezers to hold edge of embossed panel while heating, Craft Heater,  Chelsea Gardens Dots and Gems, Whimsy Ribbon Pack

#3 - Ranger Silver Superfine Embossing Powder,   Cream Ribbon