Ed-m the Letter mCompleted by Pamela Horton The whispering Platypus

I have named this card M for Mother and Pansies for Thoughts, as the colours for this stitching and beading design, plus the letter M was a perfect choice for a Mothers’ Day card.

May the 13th is the date in the U.S and Australian Calendar.

I cut the backing card for the stitching pattern at 11 x 13cm from a pale mauve and white floral print.

I used a dark purple permanent pen to colour the very outside edge of this card to define the shape.

I used all metallic threads for the stitching and silk finished polyester for attaching the beads.

I used the metallic pale purple to stitch the sections of the letter M, and using the stitching length as indicated on the pattern.

I also used this for the area I thought was meant to be a bud.

The swirls were done in a bright blue metallic thread and I followed the stitch length as indicated, and as I rather wanted to try something extra, I used a whipping stitch over the top of the very central swirl.

I used my water colour pencils to colour in the main section of the letter M and the 2 buds before I attached the beads.

To complete the letter M with the beading, I used a pale mauve round 5cm faceted bead, 2 tiny round iridescent glass beads, 2 round tiny seed pearls and 1 mauve clear glass 2.5cm shaped tube bead.

For the 2 swirls with the single bead on each one, I used purple kite shaped faceted 0.8mm glass beads.

For the 2 swirls with the bud at the end of each one, I attached tiny round iridescent glass beads and smaller 0.5mm kite faceted purple glass beads to the bud shapes, and for the swirls which form the stems I used 3 tiny round pearls, 1 purple iridescent round bead, 2 small kite shaped and one larger kite shaped bead.

For the very lower base of the swirls, I attached a tiny round purple iridescent bead and 1 larger sized kite bead.

In total I have used 28 beads consisting of 6 tiny round pearl beads,7 tiny purple iridescent round beads, 5 kite shaped faceted 0.8mm beads, 6 smaller 0.5mm kite shaped beads, 2 tiny pearl seed beads, I pale mauve round faceted bead and 1 shaped 2.5cm long tube bead.

To complete the card I made 2 backing sheets, one is a dark purple cut at 14.5 x 12cm and the other is a dusty mauve shade card cut at 15 x 13cm.

Before I attached these backing sheets using D.S. tape, I attached a very pale mauve ribbon to the back of the main image and then attached silver peel off strips to the front edges of the main image.

Before I wrapped the ribbon around to the back of the pale dusty mauve backing sheet I added the same deigned silver peel o ff strips to the outside edges of both backing sheets.

I secured the ribbon at the back and used D.S. tape to attach this topper to a white card which measures 29.5cm x 16.5cm then scored and folded easel style.

I made a bow in the same ribbon and attached it with white glue. I drew 3 pansies with a fine line black pen and coloured them with alcohol pens before attaching them with a small stem as well using white glue.

I wrote the title as a sentiment and attached it to the card front. To complete the insert I have used the same pale mauve print backing sheet, and made a bunch of pansies to sit on left hand side, and attached a free verse to the right hand side.

I have been able to make a beautiful card unlike any other card for such a special celebration. It is indeed special enough for a very special Mother. Pamela Horton. The Whispering Platypus