My First Mother's Day Card 2009

Well, here it is--my first Mother's Day card for 2009. I like it! It took me long enough to make, though. I had to change direction a couple of times. I started out with some stamped inchie images but just couldn't get the look I wanted so I set them aside and pulled out this floral cutout. From there things started to come together nicely.

Here's what I used: the base is a medium blue cardstock, from one of those budget packs you can buy at Michael's, I think. I don't keep track of the unmarked cardstocks, sorry. I used another piece of the same color for the rectangular layer with the faux stitching. The background paper is from a purchased 12" piece by Bo-Bunny Press copyright 2004 Jan Lanoy called Backyard Flower. Then there's a layer of light blue cardstock, WorldWin Color Mates Light Ocean Blue. The yellow paper doily is next; it's a Wilton doily which I picked up in a pack of 3 colors (yellow, green & pink) off the clearance aisle at WalMart. The packs were really cheap so I took all they had; they're 4" doilies and useful for so many cardmaking projects. The next layer, the shaped dark blue with the sanded edges, started out as an 8" square from a Best Occasions color pack from WalMart. My mom gave me that pack as part of my Christmas gift from her, which contained all sorts of terrific things for cardmaking. I used a nail file purchased at Dollar Tree in a multi-pack to do the edge sanding. Dollar Tree is one of my favorite stores to shop at! They have lots of stuff you can use on cards and the price is definitely right! The light floral print layer is from the digital papers at ScrapbookScrapbook.com; I love their digital papers! They print up really nice and the colors & patterns are great! Just a quick note about printing out papers, I use a little HP Deskjet 3910 that I bought at WalMart for $25 a couple years ago and I refill my own ink cartridges, so I don't spend a fortune on printer ink. Okay, on from there, the oval is the dark blue cardstock again. I use my own stencils, that I cut myself from recycled cardstock. I do not have a die-cut machine, just my trusty scissors and a steady hand. No, my cuts aren't perfect, but that's okay; I'm not trying to make cards that look like they were factory-produced. The cream-colored oval was cut from an old index card that I just found today stick between the pages of an old scrapbook of my grandmother's which is full of cards she'd received--even one that my mom had made for her long before I was born! How cool is that? And the focal point of the whole card, that lovely floral cut-out, is from a cheet of such cut-outs that I picked up at the Mennonite bulk food store near us. These sheets come in a variety of designs and are printed in Germany; sorry, there's no name on the sheets that I can identify to pass along and I have no idea where you can find them. I believe these are intended for decoupage. The oval is "popped" with double-sided foam tape. I buy mine as cheaply as possible; I have a roll of Scotch brand (pricey), a couple rolls of Duck brand (cheaper) and stocked up on several rolls from our local surplus store that cost $1.29 for a 1" x 100" roll (really cheap!). And last but not least, I used two different sized gold heart brads that I bought from CreativeImpressions.com. So there you have it--my first Mother's Day card this year. This one will be going out in tomorrow morning's mail to my online friend who lost her son and is dreading this Mother's Day. Now to make cards for my Mom and my daughters...