My mom was 94 years old in late 2012. And her birthday always means a very special art card from me. Now my Mom is a very talented, creative, artistic person in her own right, and she was making handcrafted cards decades before it was even popular! And it is sharing our artistic talents that has made us so very close over my adult years.
My Mom loves muted colors, and I was in a mood to play with my new fern template from Paperwishes. And then I just started rooting through nearly everything I have in my cardmaking arsenal. I can sit and look at papers and consider various combinations for hours and days! The paper I used for the ferns is actually a piece of cold-pressed water color paper. I wanted lots of texture. Then I started the inking process. First I did the the entire piece of paper in a pale, pale yellow-green. Then the ferns, beginning with the lightest greens, and gradually getting darker, until I got the look I wanted. And if I remember correctly, I used my Spectrum Noir pens to give them a soft look. If you've never played around with these alcohol pens, you should give them a try! The way the colors blend is almost magical.
Tearing this watercolor paper gives a nice aged-looking edge. To get this look, I tore the excess paper toward me, so a bit of the topmost layers were torn away with the excess. If you tear your paper the other way, you get a completely different look. Try it!
Then I just started layering papers and adding embellishments. The tag on the left, above, was made using the Layered Labels template by Hot Off The Press (available at Paperwishes). And I'm really loving this template, and using the heck out of it! This template has 9 different styles of labels. All you have to do is pick your style, pick your papers, trace and cut. Add some embellishments, and voila!
And as my Mom would say, "There you have it."
Next week I will post the Valentine's Day card I just finshed for Mom. It's just a wee.... bit different than most Valentine's Day cards.
Happy crafting!
