Celebrating Mothers

EDIT: The trimmer I use is a Tonic Studios 12" trimmer. It's the kind that has the arm that comes down that is one giant blade. Very safe as the blade is not sharp like a knife....no sharpening or changing blades EVER. I love it!! A friend gave me mine so I don't have a source, but I'm sure if you google it you can find one. I also have a smaller sized Fiskars trimmer of this kind that I got at WalMart...but I'm finding that I don't use that much except to trim photos.

This is my dear mom. Her name is Marie. The one photo is when she was a young woman and the others are from my wedding day. My mom looked so pretty that day in her suit and heels and earrings. My mom has endured a lot of hardships over the years...reoccuring mouth cancer that she almost didn't survive, the death of a dear son and her mom within a year's time, siblings of mine that have put her through the worst of times....yet she is always Mom. Always there for her children no matter how much pain they cause her, always there for me all those years ago when she was grieving for her lost son...wondering where she went wrong when my siblings were in trouble. But the one thing about my mom is that she has endured it all and has never turned her back against any of us kids. She's always been there for us through thick and thin.Nichole's group post challenge came at just the right time! Mother's Day will be right around the corner and the Papertrey girls are cookin' up some great gifts for all the wonderful mothers in your family. For my mom and myself, beautiful pots of flowers are always what we exchange. Then each time we visit each other over the summer, we look at each others flowers..pick off the dead leaves....she'll tell me mine need water...the fun lasts all summer long.

Well this Mother's Day, my mom is getting an extra special treat. I'm making her one of my notebooks that she loves so much along with a matching card.and gift sack. I used Nichole's beatiful new Mother set and Melissa's oh so cute Wishing You set. You can check Nichole's blog for sneak peeks of the sets being released March 15th. First comes the notebook. I used a 5" x 8" lined note pad, covered with cardstock. I stamped the flourished Mother stamp along with MY, then added some beautiful tulips and a chipboard letter.

I also used Pine's Journaling Lines stamp set and a Spellbinders Labels 1 Die Template to make a list of words that describe my mom. I finished off the note book with some machine stitching, Bitty Dots patterned paper, Cosmo Cricket's Girl Friday patterned paper, Vintage Buttons and some velvet ric rac.

I also covered the inside of my notepad with a snippet of Bitty Dots patterned paper to cover the top notebook binding.

Here's my matching card with more paper pieced tulips. I just LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this tulip set paired up with the sentiments from the Mother set.

It's so fun to mix and match the sentiments and stamped images together to bring together one great focal point.

The inside of my card is just as detailed as the outside. I chose this inside sentiment that is part of the Mother set because it really rings true to me. You never ever know the kind of love you can give until you have a child. It's a special love, different from what you feel for a spouse or other loved ones. Mom's give it unconditionally....cuz that's what moms do.

Now if I know my mom, she'll say this...."Ohhhh, it's just to pretty to use." Then she'll open it and put it back in the packaging. That's why I used a Large Glassine Sack with a simple ribbon embellishment tied on.....Mom can keep her notebook in the wrapping, remove it to look at it, and then replace it until she's ready to use it. Which may be never. She just likes to look at my pretties and sit them on her table.

That's okay because I know she loves everything I make for her and she'll think of me when she looks at it. I hope you are inspired to make something for the great moms in your life.

Nichole has outdone herself again, creating a special download that features all of our projects and instructions...check out her blog to see more. And be sure to check out the other PTI girls' blogs for more inspiring ideas. I can't wait to see what they've created:

Niki Estes
Lisa Johnson
Lauren Meader
Nichole Heady
Geny Cassady
Dawn McVey
Becky Oehlers
Melissa Phillips
Heather Nichols
Debbie Olson
Betsy Veldman