FranmadeInOregon: MOTHER'S DAY CARD

Hello, all

It's been more than a week since I visited here last. I took a bit of a break while I had my final cataract surgery check-up, ordered new glasses, started back into a regular fitness program, and continued the struggles with our beloved Sara.

I don't recall if I mentioned that Sara turned 14 in January. We've had her for 13 years and she has been the world's best doggie companion. Her hips are bad and some days it's really difficult for her to keep her back feet under her. We continue to walk her daily but it's harder and harder for her to make it around the block. A couple of months ago she started exhibiting signs of dementia and it's full-on now. She wanders around the house bumping into everything and falling. I spend a good part of my day tending to her needs - picking her up when she falls and making sure she gets outside to take care of all of her elimination. She still eats well. Did I say how expensive this is, with the vet bills and special food and medications? YIKES! While we're very cognizant of the inevitability of the outcome, she is still a very loved and important part of our family.

Having said all of that, I do have a card to share today that I made for my daughter-in-law for Mother's Day. I never miss the opportunity to tell her what a great mother she's been to our grandchildren! This is a small card - only 4 1/4" x 4 1/4". Because of the odd size I also had to fabricate a matching envelope. For inspiration I looked to two challenges: Freshly Made Sketches #483 and Color Throwdown #640.

I'm not sure why these photos are making the pinks look more peach, because they are definitely pink. I stamped the Impression Obsession D20737 wreath on two pieces of cardstock, pink and white, with Altenew "Espresso" dye ink and colored the leaves with a green felt-tip pen. Then I overprinted the background dots from Stampers Anonymous "Haunted House" DMS308 set with PTI's "New Leaf" dye ink and die-cut a circle from the white top layer. I trimmed down all four sides of the white top layer and mounted it with dimensional foam to the top-folded card layer. I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment onto a strip of brown paper by combining words from a couple of different old stamp sets in my stash. I also heat embossed a portion of the wreath where the brown strip overlapped the pink layer. Finally I die cut flowers from darker pink and coral papers using MTF's "Birds of a Feather" die set. The green stem is cut from Penny Black's "Airy" 51-423 die and then clipped to size.