Flowers for a Special Mom

4/27/2016 Update: I'm going to share this card in the pre-class gallery over at OCC  Clear & Share.  :)


Morning, everyone! Hope the month of April is off to a good start.

Three Things and A Story

Any fans of the Oprah show out there? Remember the gratitude journal phase? I remember faithfully reading my copy of Simple Abundance and recording three things for which I was grateful in my journal every at the end of the day.

These recollections came back to me recently as I was enjoying a lovely spring day. The gratitude journal really helped me focus on the positive after some pretty long days. So, after listening to and reading about all the craziness going in the world, I've decided to acknowledge those people and things that bring joy to my life.

Today I am grateful for...

• waking to the chirping of birds,
• indie films and the artists that make them, and
• the azalea blooms in the shot-glass vase that hubby left on our dining room table.  

Not too long ago, I found an azalea bloom on the ground. brought it home, and put it in a shot glass on our table. Hubby commented that it wouldn't last, to which I replied probably not but it was worth a try. Well, last it did! So, just this week, hubby surprised me with a couple of blooms in the same shot glass. Sweet!

Flowers for a Special Mom

Today's card was inspired by the following:

• the current SAS4Kids For Moms Challenge,
• Sketch Saturday sketch #406, and
• a recent vellum-panel-card post by Jennifer McGuire.

The SAS4Kids Challenge is to make a card for a mom or special lady that would be given by a child. Since my card might be given to a grandma, an aunt, or a foster/surrogate mom, I went with a sentiment-free, floral card that could be given to a special lady for any occasion -- maybe Mother's Day, but maybe for a birthday or as a special thank you.

Jillibean Soup stash paper; Stampin' Up! brown cardstock
Strathmore watercolor paper; SU vellum
Paper Smooches crystal clear stamp set
various Distress Inks and Prismacolor pencils
SU flower, cupcake, and owl builder punch
SU linen thread; stash Simon Says Stamp sequins
adhesives: Scotch ATG; Zots glue dots; Zig 2-way glue pen; Ranger multi medium matte

I loved the muted-softer-pattern look that Jennifer achieved with her vellum panel. Instead of making a vellum panel, I made a vellum overlay. By softening the look of the background paper, I was able to layer strips of another floral pattern.

The sketch worked really well for this vellum idea because of its two vertical strips. I was able to run tape on the back of the vellum along these strips... which means the vellum is well attached and no adhesive is showing through it!

I originally played with flowers -- in lots of combinations -- where indicated in the sketch. But, I felt like they were getting lost. Then, inspiration hit to stamp and fussy cut a few tags, and I loved the result.  :)

There is an Anything Goes Challenge going on at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog. So, I'm going to share these little flowers over there.

Parting Thoughts

The Cards in Envy Just Purple Challenge is open for about another nine hours. Another challenge will post tomorrow. Meanwhile, the Words 2 Craft By challenge runs through Wednesday -- with a couple of Simon Says gift certificates up for grab.  :)

Have a wonderful Sunday. Thanks for stopping and happy scrappin'!