It’s Thursday and time to play with the Pals at Pals Paper Arts! The talented Margaret Moody has a fabulous sketch for us this month.  Don’t you just love all of these layers? Since I needed to design a Mother’s Day card for a class I am teaching, I did just that.  I apologize for using the Field Flowers stamp set again, but my inspiration for this card was my own mother, and I knew that she would have loved these images.  Enjoy!

The Stampin’ Schach Design Tips
This finished card measures 4-1/4″ wide x 5-1/2″ long.

• Two steppin’! The blossoms were stamped in Crumb Cake ink and overstamped in Soft Suede.  When doing two-step stamping, I always use a Stamp-a-ma-jig. And remember, use a lighter ink for the main image, and a darker hue for the overstamp.

• Pearl on a perch! What better place to put a Pearl than on top of a button for a “pearl-fect” touch!  Extra leaves were stamped and snipped to add more foliage.

• Think outside of the…oval!  A trio of snipped blossoms extend beyond the oval. Popping them up on Stampin’ Dimensionals brings them to the forefront.

I will admit that the tears flowed freely while creating this card.  A flood of emotions that I hadn’t felt for many years poured over me. My mother loved flowers.  And although it may sound funny, the color brown was one of her favorites. I know she would have loved the linen thread and the pearls, as well as the Victorian feel of the border.  Every single design element was selected with her in mind.  It’s hard to believe that my mother has been gone for thirty years. When someone lives on in your heart, they never leave you…

As always, your comments are important to me, so won’t you please let me know what you think of today’s card? And remember, if you ever have any questions about the cards I create, I am only an email away.  Until next time…

Stamp Sets:  Field Flowers, Waterspot Image from French Foliage; Inks:  Crumb Cake, Soft Suede; Card Stock: Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake; Tools:  Big Shot, Square Lattice Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, Delicate Designs Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, Ovals Collection Framelits, Paper Snips, Sponge Daubers; Glitz and Glam: Pop-Up Posies Designer Kit, Crumb Cake Seam Binding, Linen Thread, Basic Pearls, Neutrals Designer Buttons

It’s Lexi’s birthday today! Can you believe this little bundle of cuteness is now a year old?  They grow up so quickly, don’t they?  Although Lexi is still too thin, she and I will be heading out Friday for her first show in a month and a half.  Woo hoo!  And speaking of shows, I am so proud of Muffy.  Although she was not the big winner, she still won her class two of the four days, this past week.  Muffy is such a sweetie! We had a great time in Joliet, IL and Crown Point, IN.  But being away from home so long really puts me far behind.  I need some serious stamping time! But the good news is that after this weekend, the girls and I are home to stay until the Memorial Day weekend!

PPA Sneak Peek

It’s a sketch challenge this week at Pals Paper Arts.  Margaret Moody, our resident sketch artist, has outdone herself this time.  Join me tomorrow for the reveal! Until next time…

It’s Sunday…and what a great day to play with The Paper Players!  Anne Marie has a quartet of colors for us to work with this week:  Island Indigo, Baja Breeze, Crumb Cake, Rich Razzleberry.  I reached for one of my favorite stamps from the Spring Catalog, Just Thinking.  What was going to be a quick and easy card, turned into a richly colored confection of layers.  Enjoy!

The Stampin’ Schach Design Tips: Layering
This finished card measures 4-1/4″ wide by 5-1/2″ long.

• Anchor your layers! A Paper Doily serves as the foundation for this card’s central design element.  The Crumb Cake Paper Tag, from the Pop-Up Posies Designer Kit, is followed by a Baja Breeze Oval embossed with the Lacy Brocade Textured Impressions Embossing Folder.  The Lacy Brocade pattern provides an elegant contrast against the Geometric Island Indigo pattern from the Summer Smooches Designer Series Paper collection. 

• Work those patterns! Don’t be afraid to pair up different styles.  The Rich Razzleberry “Fan” pattern, also from Summer Smooches, looks great with the Island Indigo pattern.  The key is separating the two with a small Baja Breeze border, punched with the Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border Punch.  And although I wanted to put a little pearl on each one of those little white dots, I restrained myself!

• Ribbon flower! A Crumb Cake Seam Binding flower tops everything off.  They are so easy to make.  I simply knotted one end of a piece of seam binding, stuck it onto a small adhesive circle, and twisted and wrapped my way around until the circle was completely covered.  The end of the seam binding was then tucked underneath. 

At first I was overwhelmed with what to do with these colors, but once I pulled out card stocks and patterns, the process became easier.  What do you think of today’s card? Won’t you let me know in your comment today?  Of course, if you have any questions about the cards I create or the techniques I use, I am only an email away.  Until next time…

(In case you missed my post earlier this week, Muffy and I are in Crown Point, IN today.  What a long road trip this will have been!  We head back to Iowa late this afternoon.)

 

Stamp Set:  Just Thinking; Inks: VersaMark, Soft Suede; Designer Series Paper:  Summer Smooches; Card Stock:  Island Indigo, Rich Razzleberry, Baja Breeze;  Misc. Paper:  Paper Doilies, Pop-Up Daises Designer Kit; Tools:  Big Shot, Oval Framelits Collection,  Lacy Brocade Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, Heat Tool, White Stampin’ Emboss Powder, Paper Snips, Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border Punch, Multipurpose Adhesive Sheet;  Glitz and Glam:  Crumb Cake Seam Binding, Basic Pearls;