Magnolia for Mother's Day

Today is the last day for the March "Mix It Up" challenge at Ellen Hutson's CLASSroom blog. The prompt is to make a project using at least one Essentials by Ellen product & at least one Pretty Pink Posh product. I used the "Mondo Magnolia" & "12 Days Companion Greetings" stamp sets from Essentials by Ellen, and Pretty Pink Posh's "Stitched Duo 3" die.

I stamped the flower from "Mondo Magnolia" onto a piece of 140 lb. watercolor paper that I'd cut to 4.25x5.5". Then I heat embossed it with Recollections Gold Detail embossing powder. I also went ahead and stamped & heat embossed the greeting. I used Antique Linen Distress ink to watercolor some shading onto the flower. (It doesn't show up well in the photo, but provides a bit of subtle dimension in real life.) After I dried the panel with my heat tool, I brushed clear water around the flower, and dropped in Mowed Lawn Distress ink, letting that bleed out so the edges were soft. Before that dried, I went back in, just around the edges of the magnolia, with Pine Needles Distress ink, blending that into the Mowed Lawn.

I dried the panel with my heat tool again, and taped the tag die from "Stitched Duo 3" over the flower. I die cut that, and adhered the negative piece to a white A2 card base. I punched a 1/4" diameter circle, and glued that to my tag as a reinforcer. When the glue had dried, I punched through both layers with a 1/8" hole punch. I threaded 2 lengths of gold cording through the hole, and tied a bow. Then I applied foam tape generously to the back of the tag, and adhered it to my card base, in the space where I'd cut it out from the background. I added a little Perfect Paper Adhesive to the knot on the bow, just to keep it from coming untied, and my card was finished. I will send this in my next package to Send a Smile 4 Kids.

I'm also entering this card in the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday "A Bit o' Green"
Simon Says Stamp's Work It Wednesday "Use Something Floral"
Incy Wincy Designs "Shades of Green"
Die Cut Divas "Something Spring"