This is a repeat performance of the windflower I showed you in the first blog. It is such a pretty long-lasting spring flower; but, I wanted to show you what it looks like when all the flowers are opened up. 

     I thought I would do something a little differently today. One of the ways I save money is to make my own greeting cards.....that, and it is a hobby that I am passionate about. So I will take you through the steps of making my cards. This is the card I have made for my mom for Mother's Day this Sunday. I need to get it in today's mail. 

Tools and supplies

I used a paper cutter to cut my card stock and background paper. My 8 1/2 inch cardstock is cut in half to make a 4.25" x 5.5" card when it is folded. My background paper is cut 1/8 " shorter than my card front. I used my Cricut die cutter to make the pink oval frame and the white scalloped circle on which I have stamped Happy Mother's Day in pink ink. I also stamped flowers and leaves in Versamark ink (a clear, sticky ink) on both pink and green cardstock, and poured white embossing powder over them. The powder sticks to the sticky images and does not stick to the rest of the cardstock. With the heat gun that you see, I melt the white powder on the card. The result is a bright white, shiny, raised image.

Using scissors I cut out the green leaves from the embossed image on the green cardstock. Next I cut out the flower from one of the embossed flowers on the pink cardstock, and glue it onto the green leaves. Next I cut out the centre part of another embossed flower and stick it on top of the whole flower using a piece of foam tape to raise it a little from the background (a 3-D effect). Finally, I place a pearl in the centre.

I used a piece of co-coordinating ribbon to wrap across the front of my background paper and just used scotch tape to fasten it down on the back. I used glue to stick the pink frame onto my white scalloped sentiment oval that is already stamped, and I attached a small green rhinestone to the centre of the "O" in Mother's.

I used 2-way sticky tape to attach the background paper (with ribbon already attached) to the card front. I also attached the framed sentiment oval to the top centre of the card with 2-way tape. With glue dots, I attached one 3-D flower to the top right of the sentiment and the other flower onto the ribbon on the left. I used glue dots because they lift the image just off the page but not as high as foam tape. This has to go in the mail, so I don't want to add too much bulk. 

Most times I print my inside verse or message from my computer onto plain computer paper, but this time I had a stamp with a quotation from Georgina O'Keefe...."You are one of my nicest thoughts" So I decorated the inside of the card with another piece of background paper, my stamped piece of white paper, and since I had another set of embossed leaves and flowers, I added a 2-dimensional flower with a green rhinestone to the bottom corner. There is still room to write a message and sign my name. I used the sage green ink to shade the edges of my background paper and the white message sheet. I used the Memento black ink for the stamped sentiment. 

     I hope you weren't bored to tears with this explanation. Tomorrow I will get back to business. Talk later.