Mother's Day -Matching Sets of Cards, Postage and Address Labels

Mother's Day in England is already behind us for the year, but in the U.S., it will be on Sunday, May 8th.

I've been working on some matching sets for Mother's Day, including greeting cards, address labels and postage stamps.

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The first features a hummingbird and fuchsia bloom that I photographed on our patio.  The background was very unappealing - the blank brick wall of my neighbor's house - so instead, I added a texture in a soft mint color.

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The next set features a digital artwork I created in the 3D graphics program Vue, entitled "Field of Bluebonnets".

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The photograph featured in this Mother's Day card was taken by my at Kalalau Lookout on the Na Pali Coast on the island of Kauai when my husband and I were on our honeymoon. We were so lucky to see this rainbow. Even as we stood taking photographs, the mists cleared and the rainbow disappeared! It was truly the photo of a lifetime!

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I enjoy working out in my back yard and am often trying out new plants to see what I can get to bloom. I loved this purple and lilac Aquilegia, or Columbine but alas it wasn't too happy in my garden and didn't last long.

When I made this card with my photo, it made me determined to try and grow some more this year! Such pretty blooms!

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There are some wonderful designers on Zazzle and I had fun browsing through the Mother's Day cards available.  I'm going to show you some of them here.

The first is this pretty watercolor floral Mother's Day card from 'origamiprints'. What I particularly like about the design is that you can replace the sample image with a photo of your own family, making it a very personal gift.

Watercolor Floral Mother's Day Card by origamiprints

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Here is another design, that can be customized with your own photos, this one from 'DreamingMindCards'. Mom will really love this card when it features photos of her own children.

Modern Custom Photo Happy Mother's Day Card by DreamingMindCards

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I love this final card for it's simple message -- Moms can take the place of many people in our lives, friend, teacher, carer, confidante... but no-one can take the place of mom!

Happy Mother's Day Burlap Garden Floral Card by kat_parrella
Create personalized cards online at Zazzle.

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I could continue, there are literally thousands of Mother's Day card designs but it's your turn now.

An InLinkz Mother's Day Link-up

The Making of Winter Snowscape

This week, I thought I'd share something I had previously shared on my personal website -- a step-by-step progression of an artwork I created in Bryce several years ago.

During the Christmas season, 2007, I spent a lot of time listening to Jethro Tull's Christmas Album (long story short - Eric, my new husband, couldn't be with me and that album was the first Christmas present he ever bought me, so it brought him nearer to listen to it).

As I was listening to it, I thought how much I liked the cover art. It would be really interesting, I thought, to see if I could recreate it, or at least evoke the feel of it, in Bryce.

 The first challenge - finding a Bryce building that looked similar to the one in the inspiration piece. This one needed work, but I felt it had potential. It was a freebie at the now-defunct 3D Commune, I think.

 
I even found a decent texture that simulated the brickwork - another freebie.

Next I had to add some scenery and make it wintery.

 
Ah, those lovely Bryce trees.... can't have a landscape without trees. (This was before I got Vue  and it's wonderful ecosystem feature)

The next step was to play around with the atmosphere and find the right lighting for the scene. I was getting close in here, but hadn't quite captured the feel I wanted.

Since this is a village, more buildings to add - all freebies from various websites around the 'Net.

 
More wintery trees to fill out the scene. (I think I even paid for a package of winter trees and textures, from Renderosity)

 
By this point,  I think I had the right lighting - it sort of looks like the album cover in the first picture doesn't it? (Humor me, please)  Now it was time to add more detail -- figures and buildings -- to fill out the scene.

Spot the difference... (one of the figures is pulling a sled, if you're wondering)

More figures, including a horse and sleigh created in DAZ|Studio complete the scene.

So there we have the final Bryce render. I called the scene Winter Snowscape.  I know these thumbnails make it hard to see the details, so you can click on the image above to see a larger version.

"Winter Snowscape" (see below) was one of the first cards I created for my Zazzle store, 3D Designs by Jayne - quite an advance from the Christmas of 2007, when I originally created the artwork and I printed it out myself on card stock and mailed it out as that year's personal Christmas cards!

Winter Snowscape Christmas Card by 3DDesignsByJayne
Browse other Greetings Cards

Can you spot the little added detail on the front of the card in my store? Look closely at the bottom left hand corner and you'll see Ian Anderson, playing his flute.

So now tell me, did I capture the essence of the album cover of my inspiration?

You be the judge....