The Queen of Ever'thang

Hello and Happy Mother's Day!

I hope you are all taking good care of yourselves today and being taken good care of whether you're a mother to children, pets, your plants, whatever.  It's YOUR day!

As is our custom, my daughter and I are spending the weekend at my mother's house (remember the wonderful English cottage garden?  You can see it here.) and are having a wonderful time.  We went "thrifting" and antiquing yesterday (jackpot!), and then last night we saw Johnny Rodriguez in concert.  This little town sure has some big names coming through.  Granted, he's from a different era (my generation as opposed to the NOW generation), but nevertheless, he's one of the biggies.

And now to the project at hand, the one I couldn't share any earlier because my mother reads my blog every day.  Sorry, Mom.  :)

What do you think?  It's the second time I've painted on a mixed media canvas (the first time was here), and I'm quite enjoying it.  It is my goal to paint roses in a decorative fashion (as opposed to a realistic fashion), and I'm starting to feel more comfortable doing so.  

There is a lot of symbolism on this piece, starting with the music notes I stamped onto the colored base layer (I used Neocolors this time).  They're ever so faint, but music is a big part of my mother's life.  Country music from the good old days, not that modern stuff that passes for "country" nowadays.  It plays all day in her house. 

Flowers are another biggie as evidenced by her fabulous garden.  She grows so many kinds of roses, both modern hybrid teas and fragrant antiques.  I have normally given her plants every year for Mother's Day - it was a big tradition for me while she was building her garden.  Roses, hostas, you name it, I probably gave it to her; however, she doesn't do the heavy, hard planting anymore and instead is directing her attentions towards her art, so this year will be the first without a live plant.  Instead, she gets the painted rose which will bloom forever.

 As a side note, I used to grow a very similar rose.  It was a modern hybrid tea and I don't remember the name, but here is a picture which looks exactly like it.  Alas, it was too finicky and no longer resides in my garden.

Two of the digital stamps are from Gecko Galz, and I honestly can't link directly to them because I think they were freebies that Leanne gave to us at the retreat (referenced here), but you could always contact Leanne through the Gecko Galz site (here) to see if she does have them for sale.  I LOVE these images, especially the woman's face, both of which are perfect for Mother's Day.  The "Mother" word has a crown on it because, as today's title states, my mother is the queen of everything.

I added a bit of blush and lipstick with Copics as my mother never EVER leaves the house without her makeup on.  I should be so dedicated.  And the wooden butterfly was painted with shimmer paints to match the rose.  Butterflies are thick as thieves in her gardens.

This soft, vintage image is part of a free collage set that you can obtain over at The Graphics Fairy.  It was designed by my friend Heather Hudson and is featured on her painted canvas blog post here.  It's perfect because my mother had two children, me and my sister.  

By the way, all images were printed onto tissue paper for that soft, see-through effect.  I love how you can see some of the background stamping through them. Card stock is just too thick and heavy for my purposes.

The words "my friend" were printed from my computer, also on tissue paper, and edged with Stickles.

When I had all of the painting done and the images decoupaged, I knew this piece needed something else, something 3-D, and definitely something dangly.  My mother almost never makes a piece of art that something isn't dangling from it somewhere.  So Mom, here are some danglies for you.  At first I thought I'd do a "necklace" but I didn't want to cover the lady's face with it, so then I played around with the vintage chain and it struck me - a charm bracelet!  The first charm is a frog because my mother used to collect frogs, but some years ago she said, "NO MORE FROGS."  Sorry Mom, just one more.  The flower charm of course symbolizes her extensive flower gardens.

Next come the scissors for the woman who sewed nearly all of my clothes as a child.  She also made some of the most fabulous quilts you've ever seen, many of which grace my home.

And of course a heart.  She puts at least one heart on every single project she makes, whether it's quilts, mosaics, paintings, etc.  I don't think I've ever seen her make something that didn't contain at least one heart, if not more.  Because of her, I ♥ hearts.

I made the centerpiece and in-between charms with my various pearls and beads.  The little key (another heart!) was silver but I colored it with a copper Copic marker.  I rarely use silver, and copper looked better.  My mother has always collected keys ever since I was knee high to a grasshopper.  And last but certainly not least, the flamingo.  Why?  Because a few years ago I said I was going to put a flamingo in my front yard for a little bit of tacky fun, and being who she is, my mother made me a huge one, mosaiced in pink and sporting a stylish ceramic bow on her neck.  You can visit Fanny the Flamingo here.  I am now known as "the house on the corner with the flamingo in the front yard."  I truly think this is the ONLY cool yard flamingo out there - nothing tacky about this one.

I will be entering this piece in the Gecko Galz challenge which is all about Mother's Day, and also in the Frilly and Funky challenge which is to use a single word as a focal point.  Hopefully this one qualifies!

So thank you for joining me today - it was long but, well, that's how I roll.  I'm chatty.  And I like lots of pictures.  Here's wishing all you moms out there the most wonderful day that's focused on YOU!  And for my own mother?

I ♥ you, Mom.

Happy Mother's Day!

P.S.  I was on a rose painting roll, and I had a tiny 1" wooden heart, so I painted it for my daughter.  It looked fine until I saw the close up photo.  Clearly I need to work on my vine painting.  I know she'll love it regardless.

Mother's Day is fast approaching...

...but I'm ready this time.

Hello!

I'd like to share with you a card that I made a short while ago.  I made it at the fabulous Gecko Galz retreat in mid-February (which you can read about here) and was saving it for the PERFECT occasion, which I think Mother's Day is.

I was the ONLY person who made a card at the retreat.  Talk about a newbie.  Everyone else was making fabulous albums out of the materials we were given, but my poor little pea brain just drew a complete blank, so I stuck to that which made me the most comfortable in such unfamiliar surroundings (craft retreat), a card.  At least I gussied up the heck out of it.

The image comes from Gecko Galz "Sleeping Beauty," and I edged it with glittery embossing powder along with this wonderful glammy sparkly yarn stuff that was included in our supply packets.  (Leanne, the founder of Gecko Galz, does not skimp on supplies and freebies with which to craft at her retreats.)

Also part of the supply packet (everyone chose a different theme) was the wonderful organza ribbon, this gorgeous blue rose, the jeweled piece, all of the papers and the metal flower thingie underneath the rose (which I touched with a bit of clear glitter).  There was so much but I couldn't quite include everything on this card.  I'll make an album next year. 

Here's a picture of the embellishements up close and personal.  As there was so much yummy, blingy goodness on this card, it was a wee bit too much for the blue base cardstock, so I cut the front off and attached it to a kraft layer that I cut just a tad larger than the standard A2 size, thereby turning a card into another card.  I used the leftover panel (formerly the back of the card) for the inside mat.

The sentiment was printed on my computer.  This is a saying that a lovely Brazilian neighbor used to tell my mother many, many years ago when my father was stationed in Rio de Janeiro.  I was seven years old, and this lady and her family lived above us in the apartment building, and on many evenings he, a concert pianist, would play beautiful tunes such as "Strangers in the NIght," "Moon River," etc. and she would sing.  Lydia (pronounced "Lee-ja") had a wonderful voice which would soar out their window over our ground floor courtyard, crooning us to sleep on many occasions.  (Do women "croon?"  This one did.)  Ahh, memories.  (Her husband also gave us piano lessons.)  

At any rate, this is sound advice to all women when we're tired and stressed.  Give the baby to the husband, put the dog outside, call out for dinner and go relax.  And be beautiful.

By the way, pardon what appear to be smudges on this layer - I had to photoshop out my message to my darling mother-in-law before posting, and I will be entering this into this month's Gecko Galz challenge, which is "Mother's Day."

Thank you so much for joining me, and I wish all mothers out there a wonderful, happy, and pampered Mother's Day.  

Relax, and be beautiful.

Challenges:

Gecko Galz - Mother's Day

A Rose By Any Other Name - Challenge Day at AGOAC

Hello!

It's time for this week's challenge over at A Gem of a Challenge, and the theme this week (Challenge #78) is "Make It Sentimental."  That means no image, just a sentiment.  This challenge will run from 8:00 AM May 4 to 6:00 PM May 10, and the prize for the winner will be 2 individual digi images (NOT SETS) from Pink Gem Designs.  So do head on over and see what the rest of the lovely Design Team have created, then join us, won't you?  We'd love to see you!

My card today uses the PGD digi Vintage Occasion Sentiments (Black).  This is a set of 10 framed sentiments for various occasions plus a blank one for a custom sentiment, which in this case I put the word "Mother."  I printed it out on floral digi paper which I faded so as to not distract.

This card has a lot going on.  I used a brick wall embossing folder to emboss the pink layer, the paper of which is also from Pink Gem Designs from the digi paper "Springtime" collection, a lovely set of 24 pastel prints, patterns and solids.  I used the solid, slightly distressed pink.  I brushed the paper with white acrylic paint then applied a light gray Copic marker in the spaces between the "bricks" for a bit more definition.  Not that you can see it much with all the other doodads on the surface...

  ...which include a shimmery painted birdcage, some lace, some leafy flourishes and some shimmery painted roses.  The whole idea here is to make this look like climbing roses on a brick wall.

A close up of the roses and some of the brick wall...

 

...and the bird cage, the sentiment, and the individual words (computer generated).  The background of the sentiment is a big cream colored rose faded out to a mere whisper of color.

The bird is covered with pale blue glitter - talk about sparkly!  

Last but not least is the seam binding bow in the center of which I've put a little wooden heart decoupaged with some lovely gift tissue paper, then topped with a coat of resin.

And that, lovely readers, is today's card.  I'm not telling which of my two mothers (biological and in-law) this card is for but I'm going to have to tell MY mother to not read my blog until after Mother's Day.  Tee hee!

Thank you so much for joining me, and please stop by A Gem of a Challenge to see what the rest of the Design Team has created for you, then do play along.  We'd love to see you!

Happy crafting!

Challenges entered:

Love To Create #63 - Punches and/or Dies 
Tammy's Scrapping Corner #60 - Lots of Layers
Creative Card Crew #35 - Bling
Crafts and Me #131 - Floral Frenzy
Crafty Ribbons #44 - Anything Goes w/Ribbon
Delightful Challenges - Add Ribbon
3 Girl JAM #17 - Anything Goes w/Ribbon
Really Reasonable Ribbon #71 - Sparkle, Bling, Ribbon
Fussy and Fancy #88 - Anything Goes
My Sheri Crafts #109 - Mother's Day
Pile It On 17 - April Showers Bring May Flowers (rain, flowers or both)
Eclectic Ellapu - Anything Goes
Sugar Creek Hollow #60 - Spring Flowers

The Shabby Tea Room #164 - Beautiful Spring (using photo as inspiration)