Happy Mother's Day!

I actually made this card before I made the Hoppy Mother's Day card; mostly because my mom LOVES flowers! When living in the house we grew up in, my mom would spend all spring and summer gardening in the vegetable gardens which, as we grew up and moved out, she turned into flower gardens.  In fact, when we sold the house, one of the things the new owners loved most was the beautiful gardens.  But after I made the card, I got worried she'd just be frustrated at not being able to see the flowers so I am going to give this one to my neighbor.  

What I Used to Make my Card:
Pink Card Base
Altenew Sweet Rose Bouquet Stamps
Hero Arts Inks
Computer Generated Sentiment
Die-Namics Stitched Fishtail Sentiment Strips, #MFT-1123
Green Card

This was an easy card, and I actually started it thinking it'd just be a sample.  I adore the beautiful Altenew sets, but I'm not talented enough to be able to layer the components flawlessly {I rely heavily on the downloads and videos that Altenew supplies}; so I typically test out the set.  This card was my test.  I am so proud at how it came out {well, except some of the leaves but if you didn't notice, don't look}, I decided to turn it into a card.

My only dilemma was the sentiment, so I made my own.  That alone took me

Another Look

MUCH longer than the card because I am a font junkie.  I admit it.  I must have over 3,000 fonts in my computer, so I auditioned entirely too many; then I had to size it.  Once I settled on the sentiment, I cut it and some coordinating green card using stitched fishtail banners and attached that to the stamped panel.  That was it.

I think it looks like it took me much longer to make and I know Helen will love it.  She saves all the cards I give her, just like my mom used to do.  It warms my heart!  I hope you had a fabulous Mother's Day; my cats got me a box of chocolate truffles {YUM!} so I'm a happy stamper! Hugs, Christi

PS: Please don't forget to enter my giveaway! All the details are here.

I am entering my Happy Mother's Day card in the following challenges:
Use Your Stuff - For the Moms
Simon Says Stamp Work It Wednesday - Apr/May,  For Your Mom, Mum, etc.
Crafty Gals Challenge - #165, Add a Flower
Crafting by Designs - Mother's Day
Fashionable Stamping - #135, Floral
Addicted to CAS - #136, Mom

Hoppy Mother's Day!

I just got the Toadally Awesome set from Lawn Fawn and it was just in time because I couldn't find a single stamp set that had Happy Mother's day in it! And, they are just so "toadally" cute!

What I Used to Make my Card:
Lawn Fawn Grassy Border, #LF613
Lawn Fawn Toadally Awesome Stamps, #LF1581
Lawn Fawn Toadally Awesome Dies, #LF1582
White Card base
Light Blue Card
Green Card
Blue-Gray Card
Clean Color Markers
Watercolor Paper
Ranger Archival Ink in Jet Black
MFT/Die-Namics Stitched Oval STAX, #MFT-521
Fine Tip Watercolor Brush
Hero Arts Raining Fluff Die Set, #DI369 {cloud}
MISTI
I stamped all the images with the Jet Black ink on watercolor paper, then colored them in using the Clean Color Markers.  While the images were drying a bit, I cut the pond out of the blue card using the Oval STAX dies.  I cut the grass out of the green card and a 5 1/2" x 4 1/4" panel out of the blue-gray card.  I attached the panel onto the white card base, then put the grass on, followed by the pond.  The cloud was cut out of white card and I cut out the sentiment using a stitched rectangle.

By then my critters and such were nice and dry so I cut them out with the

Another Peek

corresponding dies.  I'm glad I made a bunch of the cattails; they are SO cute and I think they really made the design come to life.  As I usually do, I made way too many frogs but I used them in another card you'll see later.

Once I let the card dry under the tile on my desk {the weight helps bond everything and I use waxed paper inside and outside the card just in case I added too much adhesive}, typically overnight, the card was finished.  I love how it came out and I know my mom will love it, too.  I made the layers so she could touch the card and, if it is nice and sunny, she may be able to see some of it.  I think it's adorable and I hope you do, too!

Please don't forget I am having a giveaway - you can read all the details here.

I hope you have a wonderful holiday and see you soon! Christi

I am entering my Hoppy Mother's Day card in the following challenges:
Crafty Catz - #416, Anything Goes w/ Cute
Crafting by Designs - Mother's Day
Ellibelle's Wednesday Challenge - M,  For Ladies or Girls Only
Stamping Sensations - M, Close to Nature
Crafting with Friends - #67, Anything Goes
Aud Sentiments - #203, A Sentiment and Cute
Fusion Card Challenge - Sketch or The Harbor {I used The Harbor - see below}
Watercooler Wednesday Challenge - #169, Charlotte's "All About Occasions" 

Mother's Day card and Bird's Nest Necklace

Mother’s Day in the United States is just around the corner so today I am showcasing a Mother’s Day card I made for my mom for my Globecraft & Piccolo project. Remember, there is a NEW project every day on the Globecraft & Piccolo blog - go and see what my fabulously talented team mates have made.

What I Used to Make This Card:

Embossing Fluid
Embossing Enamel in Micro Black 
3D Gel in Titanium White and Rose Pearl
MOM Stamp from Great Impressions, #G150
Distress Marker in Seedless Preserves
White Card Base
Scrap of White Cardstock
Paper Flowers & Leaves (Hero Arts & Prima)
Scrap of decorative paper & butterfly sticker 
from KaiserCraft Violet Crush paper pack

Embossed

The gels

I first used Embossing Fluid on my stamp and then stamped it on a piece of scrap white cardstock.  I embossed the card using G&P Embossing Enamel in Micro Black.  Once that was accomplished, I took two of my 3D gels, Titanium White and Rose Pearl, put a dot of each on my wax paper, mixed them together and painted the sentiment. In order to make the letters stand out a bit more I colored over them with the Distress Marker in Seedless Preserves.

Painted with the 3D gel mix

Once my sentiment was dry, I trimmed it and adhered it to the decorative paper.  I needed to add some oomph so I turned to my stash of paper flowers and leaves (my mom loved to plant flowers) and added a few of them, as well as a butterfly sticker. The card is done, so let me move on to the gift I made for her.

The card is actually more purple than pink

For a gift I made a bird’s nest pendant.  This was SO easy but looks SO hard I love it! I loved it so much I already gave it to her I just couldn’t wait!  There are quite a few tutorials on the web for this type of pendant (one of my fav's is HERE) so I am just going to give you a quick explanation on how I made it.  I used some silver craft wire (22 gauge), about the 10” long, put the three “eggs” (these were just plastic beads I had hanging around) on the bottom of the wire and basically formed a circle around the eggs, adding walls and threading the wire through as I went around the nest.  I then cut more wire and weaved it in and out of the nest frame to make it more cohesive.  After I finished with the wire, I took care to tuck the ends so they wouldn’t snag on any clothing and shaped it a bit with a pair of needle nosed pliers.  Mom wore the necklace to her senior center on Tuesday and it was a hit! All the ladies wanted to know if I sell them – I told Mom to get their favorite colors and I’d be happy to make the pendants, the whole thing only took about 15 minutes! 

Not as neat as the ones in the tutorial but I love it!

So there you have it – I will most likely get my mom a plant for Mother’s Day as I can’t go over there empty handed.  I hope you enjoyed my little tutorial.  Please keep in touch, as I am getting ready to celebrate my Blogaversary!! I have SO many goodies to give away there is going to be more than one winner (and I keep adding stuff to the pile daily, who knows, maybe everyone will win something!) Thank you for stopping by ~ Christi

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges:

Sister Act Card Challenge - #54, Anything Goes

Creative Moments - #41, Anything Goes

And I would like to enter my bird's nest pendant in these challenges:

C.R.A.F.T. Challenges - #256, Not a Card
All Crafts Challenge - Anything Goes (April/May) 
Party Time Tuesdays - #169, Anything Goes
Pause Dream Enjoy - Linky Party #8, Anything Goes