Mother's Day Cards (at last!)

Yes, I know that I'm very tardy with this!  Thankfully my wonderful mother is very understanding.  (or at least she lets me off the hook gracefully, and isn't that what we as mothers try to do for our children?)

Anyway, the stamping room/home office painting and wallpapering project is almost completed, and I was able to get in there this weekend and begin to put things back.  First order of business was to clear off the counter top and get back to my ideas for Mother's Day cards.  (my MIL's card went out on schedule and was not late - whew!)

Here's one that took me a couple of attempts to get it right:

This is my first time making an easel card.  I wanted to showcase the pretty 6x6 panel.

I started this card before we tore the room apart, thinking that I knew exactly how to get the desired result.  Uh...not so much LOL!

Then we decided to paint & wallpaper, tore the room apart, packed everything up & moved it all about the house, thinking that it would only take a week to finish the room.  Uh...not so much.


A few months ago I bought this template from The Crafters Workshop.  I knew the minute that I saw it that it was destined to be Mom's Mother's Day card.  Guess I should have started it way back then.

Anyway, I sponged on various colors of SU inks, then with the template on, misted with Stardust Finishing Spray by A Muse. (love that stuff!)

Then removed the template and sponged the background grass & sky.

Here are two close ups but I'm not sure that the shimmer shows up well. The bottom panel for the easel has the die cuts popped up and the sentiment (SU) and butterfly are shimmered also.

The CS for the easel is softly colored with greens, lavender and magenta, sort of splashed & daubed on it.  It's a pretty paper from SEI "Couture" collection.

The next card that I wanted to try is from a stamp set by Fiskars called Asian Inspired and is a set of 12 clear stamps.  The over sized background stamp of blossoms (cherry?) really inspired me!

CS and chalks are by SU (Brilliant Blue & Pink Passion). (Yes, I used pink.  It's not a card for me remember?)  The panel is stamped with Tuxedo Black Memento ink and chalked.  The lantern and symbol were stamped with Brilliant Blue and clear EP was used to give them some shine.  The inside panel was corner punched (Martha Stewart) and the floral cutouts were stamped, embossed, cut out & mounted as accents.  They are all from the Fiskars stamp set.

Well, my editor is demanding my attention right now...gotta keep the boss happy! Thanks for stopping by!

Dueling Darlings May Post

It's the 15th of the month, and the Dueling Darlings are at it again!  This month's hostess for the Dazzlers is Paola and she sent us some sweet goodies to work with.

4 swatches of pretty DP, two pieces of ribbon, two checkered butterflies, various beads, buttons and a ribbon slider.  And the cutest image from Stampin Up: Serene Spring.

Here's my side-step card.  I really seem to like making this type of card.  It gives me so many ways to incorporate the various pieces in the kit.  The main image is colored with Prismas and Derwent Color Soft pencils.


The butterfly has been painted with Diamond Stickles to give it a little bling.  The flowers and little lady bug have been painted with Crystal Effects to give them some shine.



The shiny beads have been added to the checkered butterfly and the flowers on the DP were also painted with Crystal Effects, adding a bead to the center of one.  The butterfly wings are folded out for dimension.

Paola included that pretty daisy with the pearl center, which I added right beside the sentiment, which I hand cut on the edges.

We were asked to post our favorite thing about the month of May.  I would have to say that May always means starting my container gardens for our deck.  Flowers and herbs mostly.  We also set up the hummingbird feeders, little fountains, some soft lights, and another bird feeder or two.

It really feels like the summer season is starting when the deck is set up.  We love it out there and spend as much time enjoying it as the weather and mosquitos allow!  Summer is short up here, so we all have to make the most of the time we're given.

That's it for me for this month's duel!  Be sure to use the links on my side bar to visit the Divas and the Dazzlers and admire their creations for this round.  Thank you Paola, for giving us such a great kit.  Thanks for visiting!
Darlene

A Word From the Editor in Chief

Bijou here.  I usually give my female pet free reign over posting here.  However, as I am ultimately responsible for the content of this blog, I feel the time has come for me to step in and set the record straight.

Last week, The Female and The Male decided to do something strange.  They refer to it as "making the craft / office room".  The Female has a sizable desk in the other room, so I am curious about why she needs another for an "office".  She should know that she already has a job.  Her sole purpose is to take care of and entertain me and Lou.  I mean really, what good are pets anyway if they can't do those simple things???  But I digress...

Counter & cupboards slid out from the wall.

They set about dismantling and moving a great number of things in this room.  Including sliding a perfectly good countertop system into the center of the room!  Then they rolled up the nice soft rug to expose the slippery wooden floors (don't they know that it's hard for us to walk on such slippery surfaces?  These pets are not very intelligent, but I love them)


Then The Male did a very strange thing.  He went and got the spray bottle that The Female uses to mist us.  He sprayed the wall and got it wet.  (I was watching carefully in case he was just faking me out and was really going to spray me!)  Then he wet down this stuff called "wallpaper" and - you'll never believe this - PUT IT ON THE WALL.  Who ever heard of such a thing.  They should have just let me chew it up and give it a few good rips on the edges.  It looks far too straight for my taste.

See that slippery floor?  The white stuff is the
"Wallpaper" that I was telling you about.

Here's a close up of the "Wallpaper"
that The Female is so excited about.
Hmpf is all I have to say.

I chose to supervise from on top of a shelving unit, perched safely on top of a box up there where I was hard to reach, but had a great view.






They repeated this over and over, eventually stopping to (finally) make dinner.  Here's what the room has looked like since Sunday.  These pets sure take a long time to finish things.  Not like us respectable parrots.  If we are going to do something, we get it done!

You can see the edge of the shelving unit that I chose for my supervisory duties.  This room used to be the nest for The Female's oldest hatchling, another female.  I wasn't allowed in there because she had too many necklaces and earrings and other goodies that the hatchling wouldn't share.  But sometimes I was sneaky and got in there anyway.  It was loads of fun.


Here's a picture of something called a "Stamp Pad Holder" that The Female's Father made for her.  She claims that it is very valuable to her and won't let me chew on the edges of the wood.

The holes in the side are too small for me to crawl into, so I don't really get the point.  She puts these things called "reinkers" into them.  I like to roll those "reinkers" around and it's especially fun when they roll off the desk.  That really gets her attention!


So, now you know what's REALLY been going on around here.  It's not excuse for The Female to be slacking on her writing duties.  Rest assured, I am taking her lapse very seriously and she will be reprimanded.  I don't take my Editor's responsibilities lightly, and if she can't step up to the job, well, I'll just have to find someone that will.  <Sigh>  A parrot's work is never done.