Mother’s Day

Added: Friday, 27th April. I am tickled pink to pick up the winner award for Nicole’s Festive Friday Challenge for this card! How exciting! 🙂 Thanks Nicole for passing on some encouragement at a time when I really needed a ‘lift’! xxx

Hi my friends!

Thanks for your patience! 2012 is certainly proving to be just as busy as 2011 was … however … I am so thankful that the traumas & crises of last year seem to have settled. I am gradually getting into a routine with my new ‘work’ responsibilities and my ‘Bree-sitting’. But … I am finding it much harder to find time to stamp & play along with challenges! I am learning to be content in this new situation … though! 😀

I was keen to make a card for Nicole’s latest Festive Friday challenge seeing I have missed the last couple … and the inspiration photo was so irresistible … that with a few spare moments on my hands this afternoon … I just HAD to play along! I had a fab idea rattling around in my head … and just needed a sketch to help out. This week’s Paper Players was a perfect one for my design! 😀 Please make sure you pop by and see all the wonderful work done by the DT girls from both challenges this week!

No! 😉 The picture isn’t blurry … the tulips are sponged … with a really soft edge!

I had seen a couple of punch art tulip cards around using the Bird punch for creating petals … and my tiny, tired brain wondered if I could use the same principle for a sponged image! I was tickled with the result! A really soft, feminine tulip … perfect for mother’s day! I punched a ‘reverse mask’ (hole shape) in some card for the petal … and I also used 3 punched paper masks to cover the tulips as I worked the extra petals and flowers around the original petal.

I added some shadows & depth to the tulips using a fine paintbrush and some ink picked up from the ink pad lid. The stems were also sponged using an acetate edge mask that I have created for hills etc. It almost looks like a watercolour painting … doesn’t it? And … without the image lines of a stamped image … it is so soft. Sorry about the photo quality … it is hard to get a good photo when you take the photo at night. Daylight is definitely preferable … but I was keen to post it once it was finished! I have added some extra details on the card recipe … hope they are a help. I did some lengthened dry embossing on this card … a little tricky when the paper is longer than the folder … but I hope my explanation is clear??? Sometimes it is tricky to put directions into words! A video would be much easier! 😉

I am a little behind (again) with comments & blog hopping … so I might sit in front of ‘The Voice’ and catch up a little! Are you all as addicted as me??? And … aren’t the coaches so funny and entertaining!? I love it! 😀 I will pop a post here soon showing you a few pics of our birthday girl  … and birthday boy … including an update on his nose! GRIN!!! Take care … and have a great week!

PS: Have linked this to the 52 Card Pickup site again this week! Thanks Patrice for the invite! 😀