Sunday, May 11, 2014

Mom's Card (Kathy Berger)



Mom's Card
by Kathy Berger


I try hard to make my cards for my Mom extra special because she is so very dear and special to me. With her nearing 87 years of age, I know that each card I make may be the last one I get to have her enjoy, so I try hard to make each one a little more special than the last. She really loves my fancy-folds and pop-up cards, so the card has to have some kind of motion in it. And so far I have never had to repeat a card style or fold. I hope I can keep that going!

This Mother's Day I wanted to do something floral. Mom doesn't like to get cut flowers because she hates to watch them wilt and die, but she does love the beauty of flowers. I think I have found a way to send her flowers that she can appreciate for as long as she wants.



Recently Sharon shared a wonderful card here on the blog that pulled out accordion-style with two pieces that crossed each other twice. I loved that concept, but I wanted mine to cascade even more, so I decided to use a bigger piece of card-stock for my base and make the card a little narrower.

I started with a piece that was 12"x8". I scored the piece (in the landscape orientation) every 2" across. I drew a line diagonally across the piece, starting at 3" on one end and going to 5" on the other. Then I drew very light pencil lines from 2 1/2" on the wider side to 1 1/2" (the half-way points) on the shorter side of each of the two sections made by that first diagonal line. Here is a drawing that will show what I mean:



I cut on the diagonal line, then I cut every other score line (2", 6", 10") on each of the two pieces; on one piece I started at the bottom edge and cut up to the pencil line, on the other piece I started at the top and cut down to the pencil line.

I then put the two pieces together by aligning the slots and inserting one into the other. I folded on the non-cut score lines to form open boxes to allow my card to flatten.

I wanted the card to be more sturdy and stable (the slits can slide around a bit) so I glued two 1" wide and about 3" and 4" long pieces of the card-stock (I just made sure they aligned with the bottom and didn't quite extend to the top), scored at 1/2", on the inside of the card where the slits met. I made sure that the slits and scores aligned so the card could lie flat and pull out perfectly. The reinforcing pieces had to be fit in there perfectly!



I then cut pieces of my decorative paper (from Authentique) and glued in place on the sides of the card, trimming off the top to match the slope of the card (I found it easiest to cut them all to 2" x 5" and trim after gluing). I placed a 3"x4" piece on the front and trimmed it to fit the slopes. And finally I placed a 5"x4" piece on the back of the card.

Well...it was finally time to decorate the card!

All of the dies I used to decorate the card are Frantic Stamper Precision Dies. I die cut 4 solid Long Stem Roses and 3 of the open Long Stem Roses, 4 of the Spring and 3 of the Open Spring Sprig out of 80# white card-stock. I colored each of them with a variety of Copic Markers to match the color scheme of the card.

I also cut a solid butterfly out of a coordinating patterned paper and a romance butterfly out of a coordinating solid color. I cut 2 tulip accents out of a coordinating ivory card-stock. And lastly, I cut 3 of the open pieces of the Easter lilly out of coordinating patterned and pink papers.

I glued each of the pieces into place using a liquid glue.

I added 3 paper flowers, a small tag with a stamped sentiment (source unknown) and a satin bow to finish the card front.



Not pictured, on the back of the card I added a pocket to hold a hand written note and a gift card.

Mom got her card yesterday and enjoyed it a lot. I hope you have enjoyed it, too! I wish you all a very happy Mother's Day.



Smiles,
Kathy
*** Materials used available at www.franticstamper.com.


Frantic Stamper Precision Dies Used:


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