Happy Mother's Day! (Times Two)

The deadline for Mother's Day cards to be at Send a Smile 4 Kids is April 15. As in, less than a week from now! So I've been working this week on finishing cards to send to them.

I decided to make a couple of cards, one for a girl to give, and the other that a boy could give. For my first card, I used 2 images from Bugaboo Stamps: "Swing" & "Bugaboo Brats Girl Flower Sitter." I sized and merged the two images in Photoshop. I also used a greeting from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps' "Mother's Day Sentiments" digital stamp set. I positioned that on my "canvas" with the merged images in Photoshop, and finally printed all that onto a piece of Strathmore Mixed Media Paper.

I colored the little girl & swing with Inktense pencils, using a damp paintbrush to blend the colors. I used a tip from Nichol Magouirk when I colored the hair. She said never to go straight to black for coloring black hair, since that is the only color you'll get. Rather, you should start with greys and build your way up to black. This will give you a more natural look, with variations in tones. So that's what I did here. For the background, since it didn't have to be particularly detailed, I just used watercolors to create the impression of grass, trees, & sky.

Once the panel had dried, I adhered it to a piece of pink cardstock that I'd die cut with the scalloped frame from Mama Elephant's "Femme Frames" die set. I matted that with a piece of dark green cardstock, and finally adhered it to an A2 card base.

For my second card, I used Operation Write Home's Sketch #198:

I made a couple of modifications, but basically held to the sketch.

I created this card much like the first. I used Bugaboo's "Sunbonnet Fish 1" digital image. I'm especially pleased with my coloring on the image in this one. Again, I used Inktense pencils and a damp brush. For the scene, I first painted a wash of blue watercolor over the whole background. Then I colored over the lower "water" part with a muted green Inktense pencil, and blended that out with a wet brush. I went over the water again with blue, to give it a more natural look.

I used a different greeting from "Mother's Day Sentiments." This one is actually all on one line in the original file. I just separated the words, moved them to a new "canvas," and lined them up one over the other, flush on the left side. Finally, I printed the greeting onto a piece of parchment-patterned paper from my scrap stash.

After matting the focal panel with navy cardstock, and the pink panel with kraft, I adhered the layers together. I matted the whole thing with more navy, and finished by mounting it to an A2 card base.

I'm entering both cards in the following challenges:

Send a Smile 4 Kids' "For a Mom or Special Female"
Virginia's View Challenge #14: "Layers and Dimensions"
Catch the Bug's "Anything Goes"

I'm also entering my first card in Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday challenge: "April Showers and/or Spring Flowers."