Happy Mother’s Day & Watercolor #4

Today is Mother’s Day in the States, and I’ve had quite a lovely one. Before I share a little bit about my day, I thought I’d share the cards I sent to my daughter and and gave to my daughter-in-law. Sarah’s been spending a lot of time in her yard, so I sent her a gift certificate to a lovely nursery around the corner from their house. A floral card seemed appropriate. One of my goals this year is to use some of my older stamps and decide if they are ones I want to keep. The stamp collection is the one thing I really didn’t spend a lot of time purging in January, although I did give a nice sized box to the charity shop. I decided this stamp of tulips by Lockhart is a keeper.

I colored it with Copic markers, adhered it to a Paper Source embossed flat card, and then to a card made with Simon Say’s new Fog cardstock (a new favorite.) The sentiment is from Avery Elle.

Betsy’s card is another card for the Watercolor for Card Makers class. I posted another card using this technique earlier. This time I was quite happy with the way the Distress Inks stamped off the acrylic block.

The die cut is from Simon Says “Happy,” and the rest of the sentiment from Winnie and Walter’s The Big, The Bold, and The Happy. After mounting it on Papertrey Ink’s Tropical Teal card, I added two gold die cut hearts left over from a previous project. 

This is also the week of my birthday, and I took some money I’ve been saving and purchased a fixed aperture 17-50mm lens for my camera. We’re finally having some splendid spring weather, and the Lilac Festival in Highland Park opened on Friday. This morning Tracy and I walked through the park and I had a chance to try out the new lens.

This is just one section of a huge pansy bed they plant for the festival each year. The design is always different.

Despite a lot of rain Friday night and some pretty strong winds (we were in the park for Tracy’s brother’s band performance), the magnolias have survived rather well.

My main motivation for purchasing the lens was to improve my ability to take photos in low light situations. I’m asked pretty frequently to take photographs at Presbytery events, usually in a church where I’m uncomfortable using my flash. And then, more importantly, I’d like more consistently good shots of grandchildren indoors. But I have to say, I’m pretty pleased with the way the lens performed outdoors today. It’s the heaviest lens I own, but wasn’t a problem during our three mile walk.

After lunch, we went to the nursery and purchased the geraniums for our patio bed, and a flat of marigolds to plant along the driveway. Tracy bought me a beautiful hanging pot of geraniums, vinca, and lobelia which is hanging by the front door. (Forgot to take photos of these!)

Matt, Betsy, and Skylar came for dinner, and we had a nice long Face Book session with Sarah, Adam, and Caleb. I couldn’t have asked for a nicer day!