Mice for Mother's Day!

Wow, can you believe it's March already?  I't`s Carolyn here and I am so excited to be  sharing a little project with you. It's Mothering Sunday on 14th March, so I thought it would be nice to do something flowery but with a difference! 

I've taken a little pot of miniature daffodils and put a wrap around them (Be careful to chose a pot with straight sides to make this a 'straightforward' project!!). Alternatively you could use a jar and fill it with flowers, or sweets. A matching card would also be special.

Firstly measure the length of card required and add an extra 3 inches on for the overlapping join. I used an A3 piece of mixed media paper (or you could join a bit extra on the length of A4 card), and then measure the depth of the pot, and cut to size.

To get the right window for the stamps wrap the card around the pot and mark it with a pencil. One end will be placed underneath, so this won't have any stamping on it. Next choose your stamps and place them on the paper to see where you want the images to go. This is an easy way to get your spacing even too. 

When you are happy, then stamp out the images.  I tilted Laliana's head up by stamping the head first, and then adding the body. This gives the effect that she is looking at the flowers.  

I used Lalliana Twinkle Toes, Morty Bottoms, Just a Girl and her Forever Friend and Seamus, but you could choose any of the collection.

I used Lallianna twice, but turned her round by stamping on tissue paper and turning it over (see second pic). Use a water brush about half an inch away from the image and then gently tear away the spare tissue.

Use a light PVA glue on the card and gently stick her down. When dry I added a little white gesso around the edge of the tissue to blend her in.

Now the fun part! You can use any colouring medium of your choice...I have used watercolour brush pens here I love their transparency and ease of use, but watercolour paints, crayons etc will be lovely too. I kept the colour palette light in keeping with the spring theme

The background is simply a green and blue wash remembering to leave some white space here and there. 

I like to put the pen directly onto my glass mat and pick it up with a water brush for this effect.

For the wording I chose a sentence made from 2 sets of stamps...'SENDING A BASKET FULL OF LOVE TO BRIGHTEN YOUR DAY' from Lallianna Twinkle Toes and Seamus but you could make your own up too.

Lay them out again on the wrap so that you can place them exactly where you want them BEFORE stamping then put your acrylic block over them to pick them up. This can be done in sections if you haven't got a large enough block. I also embossed them with clear embossing powder to give them a bit more punch.

To fix the wrap around the plant I used a mix of double sided tape and a good glue (being careful not to over wet the paper). Hold it tight for a minute as it will want to pull apart.

I completed the image by drawing the little flower in by hand ( 2 hearts on sticks!!) and adding some extra grass 

On some spare card stamp 2 images of Lallianna's basket of hearts, colour in and cut out.

Put a small piece of double sided tape on the back of each one and give it a sleight bend around the barrel of a pen.

Remove backing tape and attach to a cocktail stick or small skewer then add the second one making a little embellishment and add it to the plant pot.

Cut a small tag shape and stamp the basket full of hearts on the lower half, colour and write the words 'happy mothers day' above it. You can put your own message on the back. Use a punch to put a hole in the top and tie to the handle with some string, ribbon or twine (I used the string from Tracy's gorgeous packaging!)

I hope you enjoy making this and to all mums everywhere I wish you a very Happy Mother's Day!

Don't forget to share your makes on the 'Friends of Tracy Easson Illustrations' Facebook page too as we love to see them xx

Here are the stamps I used - just click on the link below to visit Tracy Easson Illustrations 

 

Etsy shop

Lallianna Twinkle Toes

Seamus

Just a girl and her Forever Friend

Morty Bottoms