Happy Mother's Day!

As this Peek Of The Week Day coincides with Mother’s Day it's only right that I should share with you the card I made for my own dear Mum…

What can I say about mothers that hasn’t already been said a thousand times better?  Our Mums have always been there for us, made sacrifices for us on a daily basis, always put our needs and wants before their own, and always defended us to the hilt, even on those occasions when they know deep down that their dear darling offspring was in the wrong.   She’d give us her last pound and the food from her plate without a second thought.  She’s always on hand to give a big hug when we need it, and she’s always ready to lend a sympathetic and supporting ear.  Our Mums are always on our side and are always our very best friends.  It’s very true that we don’t appreciate exactly what our Mum went through until we become mothers ourselves and we can’t begin to count the lessons we’ve learned from her.

So it’s not surprising that many of us feel daunted at the thought of making a Mother’s Day card… how can we possibly sum up all that we feel for Mum in a card?

The answer is… don’t worry, whatever you do, because she loves you, she’ll love the card.  It’s almost like you’re transported back in time to when you were five years old and you brought home a rubbish drawing from school that you rushed because you didn’t want to do it anyway, and then when your Mum saw it, she raved about it like you were going to be the next Picasso!  What I’m trying to say is, relax, your Mum is the least critical person you’ll ever find! 

I began with a square card base, 20cm by 20cm.  I used a beautiful backing paper from the Paisley Parade CD ROM.  To my eye, the peaches and pinks in the backing paper looks like a subtle watercolour painting.

For the front of the card, I added an extra 2cm to the width in order to create the curve.  I must say, I really like this technique.  Then I used the Paisley Parade dies to cut the aperture, to create the pink surrounds, and to put together the white paisley detail. 

I created the sentiment with a stamp I already had – I applied the lighter orange ink first to half the sentiment before adding the stronger pink shade to the remainder, making sure they blended.  It looks simple, but I have to say getting the sentiment just right took me a long time.  I printed it out FIVE TIMES before I had one that I liked in terms of getting the colour, and the blending or graduation as perfect as I thought it was possible for me to get.  I made the sentiment a diamond shape only because I felt it might add a bit of interest, or at least, was less dull than using a uniform square shape.

All that was left to do at that point was to add the flowers and the bow. 

I’m not totally sure why, but I thought the card might look its best without so much ‘bling’, so I went for a matt effect and didn’t add any gems or glitter. 

My Mum lives in the south west of France, so as it had to go all that way I very carefully packed it into the most rigid box I could make.  Although I (obviously) love making cards I have to acknowledge that the postage costs on handmade cards, especially those with unusual dimensions, can be very expensive… this card was deemed by Royal Mail to be a small parcel!  Still, nothing’s too much trouble where my Mum is concerned!

It’s great to think that Mums everywhere today are being spoiled rotten!  So, whether you’ve made a Mother’s Day card or received one – or even made AND received one – I hope you have a magical day…