Happy Mother's Day

and a lovely day it is!

I am so lucky to still have my mom alive and a couple hours away, yet I didn't get to visit her as I would have liked. I really wanted to share with her a hand-made card that I didn't get in the mail on time. She loves to craft and taught me so much by just doing it! that I knew she would love the method which I made her card. So - here it is on my blog for all of you. . .

front of card

A couple weeks ago, my best friend and I took a workshop at A Work of HeART with Roxanne Evans Stout. It was great fun - in many ways!!! The projects she taught and shared with us inspired the card I created for my mom.

Roxanne uses acrylic matte medium with a wet, watery brush as much as I use YES! paste. That means all papers and embellishments she adheres with matte medium which I also did with all multiple layers on both the inside and outside of my mom's card. Watercolor or khadi paper (140 or 300 lb) is mostly what Roxanne makes her art on. I used some watercolor paper which was handmade but I didn't feel it was thick enough, so I used two pieces; one for the back and one for the front.

inside of card

After I chose the papers (shell papers from India, washi from Japan, and some very sweet transulent paper) and got out the matte medium and stuff, I folded the watercolor paper substrate in thirds. This divided the space and provided the format for the card-making.

backside with muslin tie

I sewed the metal dragonfly and hearts, muslin tie, and turn-of-the-century Arm & Hammerbrand flower card on with waxed linen thread and #16 tapestry needle. I did use a little paste to adhere the advertising card on while I sewed it's corners. The lace on the inside was self-adhered (the marvels of modern day products) and I applied a little violet pan pastel over the rubber stamped lettering outlined with a permanent black pen.

The process took a couple days, yet it could be done in one. When I pasted the front and back together, it hid the sewing and knots. Also another little embellishement was to add some fine glitter to the heart with wings while the matte medium was still wet.

Gosh it was FUN! I am hoping Mom likes it, as I know she likes gardening themes and pastel colors.