Best Mom Ever

I've been looking at a few old photos of my mom this weekend to decide what to scrapbook. Even though she's no longer here on earth with me, she seems very close in my thoughts. I had determined that when I think about her, I'd remember something good and try to bless another mother in her memory, so here's another Mother's Day card.

When I saw the sketch for Just Add Ink Challenge #115 I knew it was a perfect match for The Color Throwdown palette #189.  

They also went well with the Bingo at Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge #166. I chose the bottom row, Blue, Flowers, Emboss.

The striped paper I had with my Stella and Rose "Mabel" paper pad was a fairly close match to these colors. I just added a punched navy blue border and a heart circle mat of a color close to the coral.

I used two different techniques on this card. First, I rubbed a Buttercup ink pad on the raised line design of the embossing folder, attached the front of the paper to the other side, closed the folder carefully and ran it through my Wizard. This way the debossed side shows the design with some color in the recessed area. I also inked a small rose stamp with Buttercup ink and sponged on some Sorbet along the edges. I chose those light colors because they do go together in nature, but also so that they wouldn't overwhelm the sentiment that I stamped over it using Outdoor Denim ink.

May God bless you with loving memories whenever you think about your mom!

Challenges:

Color Throwdown #189

Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge #166 - Let's Play Bingo - blue, flowers, emboss

Just Add Ink Sketch Challenge #115

5.5" x 4.25" Mother's Day Card Recipe:

Paper - My Mind's Eye Stella and Rose "Mabel;" Close To My Heart Outdoor Denim, Sorbet, Colonial White cardstock

Stamps - CTMH rose from Roxie Workshop on the Go; My Favorite Things - "Clearly Sentimental About Mothers"

Ink - Buttercup, Outdoor Denim, Sorbet (CTMH)

Other - Cuttlebug embossing folder, Martha Stewart border punch, Spellbinders Nestabilities Heart Circles, CTMH cranberry grosgrain ribbon, Recollections floral embellishments

Country Comfort Card

Here's one more card today with a country comfort theme suggested by Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge #158. The palette I used came from the soft colors from The Play Date Cafe's Challenge #121.

I found those colors among some of my Basic Grey papers in the Curio Collection. Those suggested the softer side of country living, so I chose a hen from a Layers of Color Art stamp and used the sketch provided by Tuesday Morning Sketches #135.

I used the soft rose paper for the background because flowers in the country can be marvelous. When I first moved here, I went crazy planting trees, shrubs, and lots of perennials. One time I put out 500 bulbs. Another time I raised over 1,000 perennials and annuals from seed in the house under lights. I started in January and lived for the weekends when I could be outside. The juniper lace paper reminds me of quilt blocks, which always make me think of my grandparent's farm and my grandma sewing so many quilts for all of the family. I used the twine from Papertrey Ink to add to the rustic quality of country life. Sometine I'll share the story of my one and only chicken. I could make dozens of different cards illustrating so many different aspects of the country comfort we enjoy here in rural Missouri, but overall, the peace and serenity of living in a rural area can't be beat after living a couple of blocks from a busy freeway in an overpopulated suburb.

Timeless Tuesday Challenge #148

Flourishes' Timeless Tuesday Challenge #148 asked us to make two cards using the same stamp set that look totally different. They call it "Opposites Attract." I was working on December birthday cards and didn't want these to look like Christmas cards. People like my brother who have birthdays near Christmas often get cheated that way.

So I chose winter colors like Blush, Gray, and Crystal Blue for my colorful card. (Basic Grey-blue pattern & gray background, Kaiser Kraft - striped) It's not really showing in this photo, but the sentiment banner is scored twice on each side of the white strip, then folded so that the center is popped up. The snowman was stamped on a shape I cut with the Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge.

The other card I tried to keep "clean and simple" as well as monochromatic using Colonial White, Bamboo, Chocolate, and Kraft CS (all CTMH). I heat embossed the snowman and used a snowflake embossing folder on that one. The diagonal striped paper is the back side of a retired paper from the set "Notebook." The snowman on that card was embossed on Bamboo cs and colored with a white dye-based ink marker.