Mother's Day - Mike's mom

After getting my mom's card in the mail, I knew it was time to get started on my husband's mom's card. Now Mike's mom is always so positive and easy to please with gifts, she really is a "it's the thought that counts" kind of lady. So with her card I decided to make an all I one card/gift box combo. I had seen a crafting magazine that had the cutest little purse gift box and as soon as we had decided on her gift I just knew I had to make one! And with the Pandora charm off to be engraved, I had my work cut out for me.

I was inspired and motivated to create something different than I ever had. Mrs. Rose is a big black and white fan when it comes to color schemes, so I knew where to start with color.  As I cut the black patterned paper for her box, I knew I had made the right choice.  Now I did this with the Wild Card cartridge, but it didn't seem to have an actual flap to close the box with.  This took some deep thought for me to figure out.  How was I going to make the shadow box base into an actual box to put a gift in??

I had been working in the Cricut software studio, so I pulled up the liner that matched my box and stretched it to the size of the box plus the side fold. That way I could attach the flap onto the edge of the box which would allow it to be opened and closed.  I'm pretty sure I did this the hard way, but hey, it worked out wonderfully!

The black box had a wonderful embossed pattern to the paper but once I started adding white flowers to it, I felt like it needed more. On impulse I cute a few flower petals out of some yellow paper.  This really made the flowers stand out and have more dimension.

I then measured the box to ensure my inside card was the correct size and got to cutting the card stock for the inner card.  I really still felt like I was lost in the process, but once I started putting the yellow with the inner flowers everything came together.  And with no real help from my cats, I finally figured out the best way to tie the ribbon around. Apparently spools of ribbon are about as exciting as catnip since my little Juno (a 1.5 year old Siamese/Himi mix) could not leave it alone!  I'm honestly surprised I got the ribbon around the box without teeth marks in it. I had decided to simply thread a thinner piece of ribbon through the Pandora charm and tie it in back of the card insert. This turned out so cute with the engraved "mom" facing out of the shadow box!

So after approximately 7 hours of work, within 30 seconds, Mrs. Rose had the box open and was enjoying her gift. I had to laugh when she said that she might need to hang the card on the fridge. I had to tell her that I had almost put magnet strips on the back of the insert just in case she had the desire.  I really did get that proud kid feeling again with my art.

What made it even funnier, was that when I got home from our Mother's Day dinner, I saw a post on the Cricut forum about this card. And yes, I do post some of my projects on the forums. It is a great place for feedback and to get great ideas!! But one of the ladies asked if I had a hard time "letting my baby go" and I just laughed. Mike thought it was pretty funny as well, but there is a lot of truth to it. I had a hard time mainly because I wanted it to be perfect. Just like every other project!! So I had to actually see someone's response to my art, not just a fun phone call of appreciation.  I'm sure that as my confidence builds I that feeling will go away, but I never want to lose that child like feeling of wanting my art on the fridge :)