Happy Mother's Day Weekend

I only had one grandmother growing up and she was amazing. She was a story-teller and wrote a book for her grandchildren when she was 74 years old-- because she knew how much we loved to hear her stories. I read it every year at this time. During one visit with her, she told me that "every day should be Mother's Day" and I never forgot it. We sat for hours that day and she told me the most awesome stories about my Mother growing up. From that day forward, I always quoted my grandmother in cards that I gave to my Mother.

Two years ago on Mother's Day, I knew it would be my Mother's last. We sat and read my grandmother's book together. We laughed as my Mother, in turn, told me her version of the many stories that are told in the book :)

I made this card to put on my Mother's table this year.

I used paper from the new DCWV Spring Fling/Summer Combo Stack and Old Paper Distressed Ink. The cherry is quilled and adds a bit of dimension to the card.

Thanks for looking.
Have a great Mother's Day weekend!
-Molly

Quilled Mother's Day Card (repeat)

I wanted to make some small flowers for a card, so I took the floral pattern from the print on this paper and attempted to kind of, sort of, duplicate it :o)

I used very narrow paper strips (English papers 3/32" wide). I also used three different quilling tools to minimize the center holes. A quilting needle for the tiny tight rolled flowers, corsage pin and a commercial quilling tool.

I made paper knots for the center of the flowers (and a few accents) by cutting a 3/4" (1.9 cm) strip lengthwise from corner to corner making triangle shapes. I start rolling this teeny piece at the wide end to the point. I punched out a 3.5" (8.9 cm) scalloped circle, attached a 3" (7.62 cm) piece of cardboard to the back for support and added pop dots. I used -faded jeans- Distress Ink on the edges.

Have a fun, crafty week!
~Molly

Simple Valentine's Day Cards

Happy Valentine's Day

The heart is two eccentric teardrops using a 1/8 x 24" strip for each shape.
The balloon heart is curved at the tip and a 3" triangle added to the bottom.
The font is Courier New 60 pt.

Have a great week!
-Molly

Quilled Heart Valentine's Day Card

Whatever your heart wishes, my heart wishes for you!

The inside says "Happy Valentine's Day, Friend"!

When I finished filling in the heart, it was lopsided. I didn't want to toss it, so I added a few curved strips at the top to even it out.

Remember .. Imperfection adds character!

Happy day,
-Molly

Making Puffy Paper Flowers

There was a day when a print and fold greeting card was not necessary but very much appreciated by the recipient. Then two holes were punched at the top and ribbon was added. Embellishing! In this day and time, with a gazillion craft supplies available along with die cut machines and card kits, a personalized handmade card has no limits. I do own some border punches and a few Coluzzle templates, but I am old-fashioned and still prefer to give handmade versus machine made cards.

I first picked a simple graphic and printed twice, on plain paper and cardstock.

I added a personal greeting on the cardstock copy, tore the edges with a ruler and used a Scor-Pal to score a half-inch horizontal/vertical grid.

I used antique linen Ranger Distress Ink on the raised grid and torn edges. One version is to add a little bling to the flower centers and a bit of glitter pen.

Another version is to add quilled flowers to the card.

One of my favorite techniques is to make puffy paper flowers. I cut out the three flowers from the plain paper copy. (It's best to trim slightly bigger than the print.)

I place the cut flowers upside down on a piece of thick craft foam and burnish with the round end of a marker. Next I burnish around the edges with the ball of an embossing tool. The finished flower will be in a bowl shape. Turn the flower over and press in the center to shape. I glued the centers of the puffy flowers to the card as shown, and added a gloss accent to the centers.

Sadly, I cannot draw or paint but I can trace and color inside the lines with glitter pens :)
Here is my final handmade card.

Thanks for visiting!

-Molly