New Floral Cards for Mother's Day and More!

I have two spring bazaars coming up next month, and am starting to panic just a little because I don't have my inventory stocked as well I as would like to yet!  I have been hard at work on some new cards, and though it's only a fraction of what I want to accomplish before the first sale on May 4, at least it's a start!  I wanted to share some of these new designs today.  I am not sure if any will be listed in my Etsy shop- I may list a few, but at the moment, I am missing the battery charger for my camera so can't take good-quality pictures of them until that is located.  These pictures were taken with my iPhone, so they are not as clear as mu usual pictures.  Anyway, these are not done yet- I have not done the inside lining yet, and will be adding sentiments to some of them, probably Happy Mother's Day. 

For these first two, I had a similar floral-patterned paper in pink and blue, and I made two different card designs with each.  I'm only showing one of each here, but I also made the other designs in the opposite colors.  This first one, the blue, is a new design- I used a sketch that I found on a blog called Freshly Made Sketches.  I really like the sketches on this site, because they have very clean lines and a general "uncluttered" look about them.  I am enjoying experimenting with some of the sketches I have found there.

The pink one is a design I have used before, pretty simple with just a layering of the patterned paper.  This floral pattern has what look like larkspur flowers, which I use a great deal in my pressed flower bookmarks, and I challenged myself to make some paper flowers that resemble them to embellish the card.  I used a Sizzix die to make these- I tell you, I have gotten a lot of use out of those!  You may remember them from way back when I did these poinsettia cards and used them.  They are only three petals each, but when layered, give a very similar look to the larkspur.  For the flower centers, I punched a small daisy in green and cut each petal in half lengthwise and cut away one half of each.  Then I curled each remaining petal half toward the center using a little quilling tool that came with an art set that my daughter got for Christmas.  It has come in pretty handy for me lately!  I then added some leaves punched from a MS rose leaf punch and embossed some veining on them with an embossing tool.  I think they came out pretty well!

This next one us kind of different- I used the same layout as on the blue card above, but used a very interesting butterfly pattern washi paper.  Love the colors in this one- silver, blue, teal and black, with a little splash of yellow.  I used a metallic silver as the backdrop for an embossed strip with butterflies and dragonflies (a new Sizzix embossing folder), the washi paper, and a layered punched butterfly.  I'm not totally in love with this one...I think I may experiment with adding something in the upper right, it just seems a little too empty to me.  Maybe a small sentiment there.

This next one is similar to one I did before, but I added a flower instead of just a bow.  I like the combination of soft green and pink on this washi paper.

 This one has my favorite washi paper ever, I think- I got this from a fellow Etsy seller who has a lovely shop full of pretty Japanese papers.  I now wish I had bought more of it- I only got one sheet, and now there is no more in her shop. :(  So I am making the most of what I do have!  This is my traditional design with a ribbon and flower.  I did the flower in a two-toned purple and red, and I like it on this card.

 

You've seen this design before- the only thing different is that I put two flowers on this time, just to mix things up a bit!

And finally, this one is another new washi paper.  I mentioned a couple of months ago that I had ordered some from two different Etsy sellers.  This is another one of those- I like the dark, dusky purple combined with the green.  The sentiment box is currently empty,but will have a "Happy Mother's Day" in it eventually.  I was testing out a new Spellbinder die that I got for the frame- I like it!  The flower, in hindsight, is a bit too big for this card, but it's from a punch that I got at Ross Dress For Less, of all places.  It is a 3-petal punch that embosses also, and I really wanted to try it out.

Like I said, I have a LOT more work to do before the first sale- I know what my weekends are going to be spent doing for the next couple of weeks!  I have so much that I *want* to do, but probably will not have time to do it all, so will have to prioritize.  I do plan to make a 4-sided graduation exploding box that I can display alongside the 8-sided one as a less expensive option- that is something I have been meaning to do for my Etsy shop anyway.  Probably need a few more bookmarks too, and will have to recruit my daughter to make some more little glass flower magnets that seemed so popular at the other sales.  So, when I have more to show, I'll be back!