>Home>Craft Ideas>Computer Crafting>Digital Mothers Day Card Design

Mothers Day Card Pattern

Using Digital Scrapbooking Tools to Make a Mothers Day Card

Make it a Special Mothers Day with a “Handmade” Card

The card above was made using Scrap Girls’ digital scrapbooking products. Of course, it could be made with paper products and real ribbons as well, but digital is just so cool.

More and more paper scrappers are going digital – or going eclectic. By “eclectic” I mean using digital graphics for a base and then adding three-dimensional embellishments. It’s just amazing what you can do.

This card was made using Photoshop CS, but the directions for the less expensive Photoshop Elements would be almost identical.

You can use the step-by-step directions which follow using graphics you already have or, if you want to make this very card, go to the Scrap Girls’ Boutique and purchase the following items:

• 1. Love Always Collection Biggie;
• 2. Love Always Embellishment Biggie;
• 3. Cottage Quilt Collection Biggie;
• 4. Antique Charm Embellishment Biggie; and
• 5. Scrap Girls Refresh Collection Biggie (which is triple-F: Fantastic, Fun and Free!)

Your items will be instantly downloadable. It’s just the coolest way to shop!

Creating the Outside of the Mothers Day Card

1. Create Document and Add Background Paper

To make this 8 ¼ by 5 ¼-inch card, create a new document in Photoshop: File>New.

Type in the dimensions (8.5 for the Height, 11 inches for the Width) and 300 pixels per square inch (psi) for the resolution.

Set a vertical guideline to divide your design space for the cards’ front and back: View>New Guide.

Select Vertical and type in 5.25 to divide the 10.5-inch space in half.

Open a base paper. I used ScrapGirls' AMC_Cottage_Quilt_Roses. Click and drag it to your new document. Position it to the right of the guideline. It will snap into place.

Layer>Merge will clip off the excess paper. [The Cottage Quilt Roses paper was 12 x 12; but your card front is only 5.25 x 8.25.]

Layer>Duplicate the background so that you can manipulate it. You can then delete the original background or simply make it invisible by clicking and closing the eye on the background in the Layers Palette.

With Layer 1 (the background copy) selected (click on the Layers Palette so that it shows grey), select the Rectangular Marquee tool (dotted line rectangle in the Photoshop Tools Palette – top row left) and use it to score the strip of paper you want to cut away from the right edge of the card.

Delete. This is where the lace edge will go later.

Save your document as a Photoshop file (.pdd or .psd) to preserve the layers you will be creating as we move on. Give it a descriptive name like “Mother’s Day Card 07”.

It’s a very good idea to save your graphic work frequently. Graphic work really churns up your computer’s RAM. Every once in a while, you may get the dreaded message, “Photoshop has encountered a problem and needs to close. Sorry for the inconvenience.” Or you could have a power failure.

I won’t mention it again; so remember to Save, Save, Save.

2. Add Foreground Paper and Give Your Mothers Day Card Style

Select and open a coordinating paper to center on the Cottage Roses. I used EHI_LoveAlways_BluePattern2. This paper has a really nice edge effect which I wanted to preserve, so rather than clip it to size, I selected Image>Image Size and typed in 5.5 inches for Width and 8.5 inches for Height. (Make sure “Constrain Proportions” is unchecked. You do want to change the proportions here.)

Click on and drag the resized paper to your card front. Go back and close the paper (BluePattern2 or whatever you chose) without saving the changes. You don’t want your original paper shrunk and distorted.

Back in the card document, select Edit>Transform>Scale.

The paper you just brought in will be outlined. Put the cursor on one of the corners and move it inward until the paper fits prettily inside the Cottage Roses background paper.

Click on the Move icon (it’s the little arrow with the cross beside it in the Photoshop Tools Palette – top row, right) and click on Apply.

Any time you Transform a layer, you must click on the Move Tool and Apply. You won’t be allowed to do anything else until you have finalized or canceled the transformation. To create the lovely vellum-look edge on the foreground paper, make sure it is selected (grey in the Layers Palette), click Layer>Layer Style>Inner Glow.

Click on the glow color (which is bright yellow – yuk) and move your cursor to the document. The eyedropper will appear.

Use the eyedropper to “suck up” the glow color of your choice from your document. I chose a dark beige from the Cottage Roses.

Play with the Inner Glow sliders until you get the look you want. My settings were 75% Opacity, 0% Noise, 62% Choke and 100 pixel Size.

3. Add and Dress Your Mothers Day Message

Click on the Text Tool. Look at the Options bar that then appears toward the top of your screen. The color square should be the beige you used for the Inner Glow. That might be OK ; or you might want to select a different hue. If so, click on the top color block and use the eyedropper to suck a different shade or color from the background paper.

Select a suitable font. I used ChesterfieldAntD, Regular, 30 pt and Smooth.

Move the cursor to the document and start typing. The size and placement are not important. We’ll tweak those later. Highlight the message and choose your justification from the top option bar. Mine is center-justified.

If the size and placement need adjusting, use the Edit>Transform>Scale Tool as we did for the foreground paper.

Don’t forget Move Tool>Apply to complete the transformation. Then add a drop shadow to the type: Layer>Layer Style>Drop Shadow.

You’ll probably want to change the shadow color from black. Click on the color block and move to the foreground paper to suck up a dark color for the shadow. I selected a dark tone of the paper’s blues. Play with the sliders until you are pleased with the shadow effect. I chose 75% Opacity and 18 pixel Distance. Click OK.

4. Sew the Foreground Paper to the Background

Open a stitches file. I chose ScrapGirls' SG_Refresh_TDO_Stitches.

This file contains three lines of stitching, but I only wanted the middle one. Use the Marquee Tool to outline the stitches you want. If you want to adjust the color, zoom in so you can clearly see the stitch color. The Navigator Palette is handy because it allows you to zoom and to move around the document.

In the Navigator Palette, move the zoom slider until you can see the individual stitches closely. If the stitch line you want is not centered, move your cursor to the thumbnail in the Palette and use the hand which appears to move around until the stitches are in clear view.

Edit>Adjustments>Color Balance should allow you to sufficiently tweak the color.

I moved the Red/Cyan slider toward Cyan to add more blue. Edit>Copy. Go back to the card document and Edit>Paste. A new layer is created containing the stitches.

I want to use this dark blue for the lace later, so I copied this layer by selecting Layer>Duplicate and moved the copy into place on the foreground paper’s “vellum” edge. For very small moves, you can “nudge” a selected layer using the arrow keys.

Edit>Transform>Scale and Apply to make the stitch fit along the vellum.

Layer>Duplicate and move the new copy to the other side of the vellum edge. Layer>Duplicate.

Edit>Transform>Rotate 90 degrees CCW and Apply. Move this copy to the top vellum edge. Of course it’s too long.

Use the Rectangular Marquee Tool to outline the part you want to cut away. Hit Delete.

Layer>Duplicate and move the final row of stitching to the bottom vellum edge. [“Isn’t this more fun than a sewing machine?!]

Now let’s give the stitches some dimension. First we’ll group them together. With Layer 2 Copy 3 active (grey), Layer>Group.

You now have a Group 1 which includes Layer 2 Copy 3. To get the other stitch lines to join the group, click on each one and drag it up until it pops into the group.

If you click the Group 1 eye off and on, you can be sure you’ve got just the layers you want in the group.

I decided I wanted these stitches to look finer, so I lightened the Opacity at the top of the Layers Palette to 50%. Then I merged the group so I could add a Layer Style: Layer>Merge Group.

With Group 1 active, Layer>Style>Drop Shadow and tweak. This drop shadow is very subtle because the stitches are so fine. I used Size 10 and Spread 1.

5. Sew A Lace Edge on Your Mothers Day Card

Open a lace embellishment file. I used EHI_LoveAlways_Emb2_Lace.

Click and drag the lace to your card.

Edit>Transform>Scale and Apply; then Edit>Transform>Rotate 180 degrees and Apply.

Drag the lace into place. It should overlap the Cottage Roses paper so that you can “sew” it on. Notice how the Roses paper shows through the lace. Cute, huh?

We’ll use the first dark blue stitch line to sew the lace on. Since we brought it in several layers ago, we first need to move it on top of the lace.

Find it in the Layers Palette, click and drag it up until it is above the Lace. Now click on the stitches in the document and drag them onto the lace. You may have to adjust the size using Transform.

I set the opacity at 69% and added a drop shadow. Remember, for very small moves, you can nudge using the arrow keys.

6. Add a Little Mothers Day Bow

Open a ribbon or bow embellishment. I used CBA_Antique_Charm Ribbon.

To change the color to one that coordinates with your card Image>Adjustments>Replace Color. The pop-up box shows a thumbnail of the ribbon.

If it is black and white, you need to click the little dot that says “Image”.

There are two color blocks. The top one is the color you want to replace. That’s already set since the ribbon is basically one color. So click on the bottom color block to define the new color. Move the cursor to your card and suck up the color you want for the ribbon. Click OK.

Click and drag the ribbon into position on your card. To tilt the ribbon a little:Edit>Transform>

Rotate. Grab the curved arrow on one of the corners and tilt the bow. Apply.

7. Optional Backpage Art

On the left of the document, which forms the back of the folded card, you can add backpage art or a logo. I used my logo.

You can just type a little note like, “Made just for you, with love, by …”

8. Make it All Go Away

Remember how we grouped the stitch line for the foreground paper in Step 4? Now we’re going to group the entire outside of the card and make it disappear so we can create the card’s inside right in the same document. Cool.

Select the topmost layer in the Layers Palette. Layer>Group Layers as before.

Move every other layer into this group. Click on the Group 2 label, when it activates, change the title to “Mothers Day Card Outside”. If you like, you can label all the components as well. For example, you might name Group 1 “Vellum Stitching”.

This makes it easier to understand and work with a layered document, especially when you have so many layers. And we’re going to add even more! If you have trouble remembering what is what, simply click on an eye. Whatever disappears is what you want to rename.

Once your Card Outside is all organized, click on the eye of the top (Group) layer. All your work disappears. Don’t panic. It’s still all there. Click the eye again to see. OK, make it disappear so we can create the card’s inside.

Mothers Day Card Inside

Your document is perfectly set up to go right to work. The guideline defines where the card will fold.

Create the inside message to the right of the guide.

The Cottage Roses paper is still open, so go to it. Marquee a long skinny rectangle. Edit>Copy.

Move to your card and Edit>Paste. Move the strip to the right edge and Transform as needed.

Open a ribbon embellishment to edge the Cottage Roses border. I used EHI_LoveAlways Emb2_Ribbon-BlueGreen. Click and drag it to your card.

If the color needs adjusting, you now know at least two ways to do that: Image>Adjustments>Color Balance (Step 4) and Image>Adjustments>Replace Color (Step 6). Transform as needed. Add a drop shadow for dimension.

Select the Type Tool and add your inside message.

Group the card’s inside layers and rename “Mothers Day Card Inside”

Print, Fold & Cut Your Mothers Day Card

Insert a sheet of nice card stock to your printer feed tray. I always remove any other paper first, just in case the printer decides to grab two sheets at once.

File>Print with Preview>Page Setup, select Landscape Orientation. Click OK>Print.

Reinsert the printed sheet to the printer feed tray. Click off the Card Inside eye to make it disappear from view. Click on the Card Outside eye to make it reappear and Print. Fold the card in half and trim away the white part to the right of the lace on the card front so that the inside border shows.

You now have a lovely “handmade” Mother’s Day card and hopefully picked up some new graphic design skills. If you have any questions on this tutorial or requests for new tutorials, please press the Contact Us bar on the top left and send me a note.

  |Top | Computer Crafting | Crafts | Home |