Flowers, Flowers Everywhere - at Di's Digis

Here we are again with a new challenge starting at Di's Digis Challenge Blog, the theme this time around is "Flowers Everywhere".  I made a card for my lovely Mum for Mother's Day... which is tomorrow here in Australia!  

It's a "Magic" card... or that's what Marianne called it in her fabulous tutorial here... it uses the "winged sides to stand up and has a "secret" panel that shows when you lift up the front panel.

The oh-so-sweet image is called Hide and Seek Mice (I do love Di's mice images!) and you can get it here.  I coloured with Copics, adding some depth to the shading with Prismacolor pencils and some gold gel pen to the base of the petals... it ties in with the gold on the paper and actually looks a bit more subtle in real life, quite effective if I do say so myself :-)I used some beautiful handmade Cherry Blossom patterned Chiyogami paper from my beloved Starfish Lane - special paper for my very special Mum :-)  It's a pain to cut cleanly, you do have to spend a bit of time cleaning up the cut edges but it's SO worth it; this paper is GORGEOUS in real life, with a tissue-y texture, gold detail and rich colours.
I punched the edges of the "wings" that help the card to stand with a Martha Stewart Edge punch - "Doily Lace", I sponged some dusky pink Kaisercraft ink on the edges to soften the effect. 

I've been drooling over Stitched Mat type dies all over blogland, I finally treated myself to a couple of sets - Stitched Mats circles and squares - from L'il Inkers (the largest one in each of their sets is the biggest of all the brands I looked at) they stitch "inside and outside" of the cut line; giving a stitched line on the outer edge of the mat and around the outside of the "hole", which gives a useful negative :-)  I'm really impressed with how nicely they cut, and their customer service was excellent too.  I inked the edges of all the circles to match the punched edges.
The flowers on the front are from my stash... they came on a branch and as they weren't the right colour I just touched them up with a Copic marker to suit.  The sentiment is a sticker, it was all joined together in three rows, I snipped them apart and voila!

The poem inside the card was one I found on Pinterest... click on the pic to see it up close and personal :-) I typed it out using Precosia font, I haven't added it to my freebies page as this font was free for Personal Use only. 
Another stitched mat circle for a jotting panel and a strip of the Doily Lace to tie that in (and to compensate for the fact that I didn't have enough of the chiyogama paper to cover the whole of that panel) and done... it looks okay I think.
Well that's it for today's card, pop over to the blog and check out the rest of the DT's work; truly Flowers Everywhere, lol.  I hope you get a chance to enter the challenge this time around... there's a great prize on offer as always (from Magnalicious this challenge) woohoo! If you use one of Di's sweet images you get to go into an extra draw too don't forget!
 I'll be sharing my card at Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge, as I'm on the DT I won't be entering the prize draw - just "show and tell", lol, but I WILL be entering Mum's card in the following challenges.  

Cute Card Thursday Secrets (a hidden something) hidden panel behind the front flap

Pile It On Garden Creatures

Tuesday Throwdown Welcome Spring

Hanna and Friends Flowers

Card Mania Challenges  Flowers

Aud Sentiments  Animals + a sentiment

As You Like It Favourite; Patterned or Embossed Paper - well I DO love patterned :-) especially when it's so lush as this

Creatalicious Challenges Mother's Day/Special Lady My Mum is VERY special

The Paper Shelter Love (any kind of love) I love my Mum, that's some kind of love

Animal Friends Love

Fab'n'funky Challenges 3 or More Layers

Li'l Patch of Crafty Friends, Paper Creator Crafts, Cute As A Button, Little Miss Muffet, Create and Inspire, Creative Fingers, Art by Miran, Simply Papercrafts, Crafting With Friends #20, Craft Your Passion and Through the Craftroom Door

I'll be back soon... still got that pile in my Draft folder, lol.  Until then Happy Crafting, Donna