A CASE for Mother's Day

Well, it's not a total CASE, but I definitely was inspired by this card by Michele Boyer (I just love her work!). My mom adores irises and I was all set to make her a card with beautiful irises on it, but when I saw Michele's card, I decided it would be a fun change of pace (of course the thought of having to color in those irises was a bit intimidating, so that may have helped to influence my decision -lol). --BTW, Barb recently sent me a link for a coloring tutorial, so when we've finished with school for the year and I've backed up all FOUR years' worth of digi pics on my ailing desktop computer, I plan to send some time learning to color this summer -- thanks so much, Barb!

Okay, so here's my card (it looks a bit washed out here, but the colors really are much more vivid and prettier in person):

And here's the scoop: My parents moved to Arizona about ten years ago, and while my mom did go through a 'Southwestern' decorating phase, she's been over it for quite some time (hence, my wanting to use irises and going with a floral patterned paper). So this card doesn't have the decidedly Southwestern feel that Michele's card had, but I still wanted to use the cactus idea. Little did I know it would be such a process to put this all together...all because I couldn't figure out a way to use a cactus that my mom doesn't particularly care about one way or another. lol I don't think I've ever spent more time on a card than on this one (unless we're counting having to re-do Eric's graduation card -lol).

After looking again at Michele's 'how-to' notes, I decided I definitely took the looonnnnng way around. Instead of just masking a little and inserting the cactus, I paper-pieced EVERYTHING separately -- I think I stamped that image about four times! I had to draw in the left side of the dress and part of her right arm where the irises overlapped the image, the pot and arms are separate, and even the frame itself was cut out. Oh, well. It does have lots of dimension this way. ;) I'm pretty happy with it and I think she'll like it too (even though she probably would've preferred irises -lol). ;) I'm not sure if you can see all the layering and dimension of the paper-piecing, but here's a close-up:

The stamp sets used are Happy Mother's Day and Ride 'Em Cowgirl, both by My Favorite Things. The patterned papers are from the "Baby Girl" Wild Asparagus line by My Mind's Eye (I just love MME's papers!). The frame and much of the paper-piecing was done using Curious Iridescent Cryogen White (the arms, cactus, frame, and background), so it shimmers when the light hits it. ;) All images were stamped with Timber Brown Staz-On. I sponged the frame's background (guess it could be called wallpaper) with Vanilla Cream and Desert Sand inks (to give it a faux suede look that was so 'in' in many of the multi-million dollar homes we saw in Park City's Home Tour last year). The frame was sponged with Hollyhock and Barn Red inks (it came out pretty close to the color of the MME paper, so I was pleased with that); the cactus was colored using Garden Green and Desert Sand markers; and her arms were colored using my Vanilla Cream marker. The dress and the pot were cut out from the patterned papers and I didn't do any inking on them, though in hindsight I should've added some depth/dimension to the pot. ;( The little flowers were punched from the floral patterned paper using a little teeny tiny punch I've had for years -- I have no idea who makes it or where I got it. And another little hindsight item relating to the punched flowers: I think the one on the cactus might've been placed elsewhere...enough said. lol

I'm sorry I didn't have time to include all the links like I usually do, but I'm running out of time to get the house whipped into shape before my parents arrive. I hope that all of you who are blessed to still have mothers or have children of your own will have a wonderful Mother's Day! I'm not sure how long my parents will be staying and I want to enjoy every minute of their visit so I won't be on the computer much this next week, but I'll be back as soon as I can to show you the final rendition of that silly graduation card -- gotta get it made first though. lol

Thanks so much for the visit, and I hope you'll stop by again soon. Until then, many blessings to you!

Supplies: Cardstock: Colonial White (base), Garden Green (CTMH), Curious Iridescent Cryogen White (Arjo Wiggins); Patterned Paper: Wild Asparagus "Baby Girl" Coral/Floral and Dots (My Mind's Eye); Stamps: Happy Mother's Day, Ride 'Em Cowgirl (My Favorite Things); Inks: Timber Brown Staz-On (Tsukineko), Garden Green, Desert Sand, Cocoa, Vanilla Cream, Hollyhock, Barn Red (CTMH); Other: classic and scalloped square rectangle Nestabilities (Spellbinders), ivory organdy ribbon (CTMH), green ribbon (May Arts), corner rounder punch (EK Success), sponge (CTMH), sewing machine, thread, foam mounting tape, lots of patience ;)