Mom, You're the Best!

I got the clear stamp I used for the focal image on this card several years ago. I don't remember where, when, or even who did the design! But I must have thought it was cute (I still do), hence the purchase. And I have never used it until now. I was looking for an image for a general "mother"-themed card (not specifically Mother's Day), and came across this stamp. It looked perfect for what I wanted, so I decided it was finally time to get it inky!

I used this Operation Write Home sketch as the basis for my design:

I stamped the image in Jet Black Archival ink on watercolor paper. I then die cut it with a Spellbinders Classic Oval die. For the oval mat, since the next larger die was too large, I traced around the outer edge of the one I used to die cut the image, and cut that out with scissors. Then I colored the image with Inktense pencils, feathering the color out with my water brush to add a "shaded" look.

I embossed the yellow cardstock with the Berry Swirls embossing folder by Sizzix. I matted that on light blue cardstock, so the blue just peeks out above and below the yellow. I used a greeting from this digital stamp set by Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps, printing it on a scrap of pink cardstock. My initial plan was to pop up the greeting panel on foam tape, then have small banner ends (cut separately) peeking out from under each end. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough room on the card front to do this, so I decided just to round the corners with my We R Memory Keepers 1/8" Corner Chomper and adhere the panel to the card.

I am entering this in Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday "Mother's Day or Special Girl" challenge. (What "girl" is more special than your mother?)