Free Mother's Day PDF Download

Summary

Free PDF download and printable Mother's Day card original art by Ginger Moelius to color, information and legend about bleeding heart flower, drawing process

Happy Mother's Day!

I wish all the mothers out there a hearty thank you for your resilience and dedication to your family. I'm a mom myself and know the struggle to juggle! I hope to spend this upcoming day with my mom and daughter. In the search for a Mother's Day craft, I went for a walk around my yard. I missed my chance to photograph the daffodils for reference. There was a nearby frost in the town of Candor, New York that decimated their daffodils for this year's Daffodil Festival. It was a rather sad state of affairs, but the community came together and kept the festival going, even in the rain! My tulips were looking a little ragged so weren't very photogenic for a reference photo either. The tulips do have new buds growing though, so there's hope for more pictures. I have my finger's crossed that my ketchup and mustard tulips will bloom this year, but there's no sign of buds yet. The bleeding hearts, however, are thriving even after the late frost this past April. I took a few lovely photos of the bleeding heart that I planted three years ago. Below is the reference photo and inspiration for the free Mother's Day card. Scroll down for the free PDF download and printable.

About the Bleeding Heart Flower and Plant

The scientific name for the bleeding heart is lamprocapnos spectabilis. The bleeding heart is the only plant within its genus, and it's native to Northern China and Korea. The plant prefers full sun to partial shade and well draining soil. The flowers bloom in the spring and summer, and each stem can have up to twenty blossoms! The striking heart shaped flowers with the lower hanging petals are said to resemble the shape of a traditional Asian purse, and the leaves resemble that of a tree peony. There are three varieties of bleeding heart. These include the standard pink flowers with green leaves, white flowers with green leaves known as the Alba, and the variety that I have, Goldheart, pink flowers with yellow leaves.

Reference

The Legend of the Creation of the Bleeding Heart

Retold by Ginger Moelius

Once upon a time there was a beautiful maiden, named Si Jun. She was brought up in a humble and modest home in a picturesque valley. As a child, she explored the surrounding woods and grew interested in the flora around her. On restful days, Si Jun settled down near her favorite peony tree with her embroidery and listened to the river bubble by. She used the flowers around her as inspiration for her threaded pictures. One day her peace was interrupted by an energetic lad. The lad boasted about being born into a line of mighty warriors while combatting with the enemy fish in the river. Yet, he hadn't actually caught one! Si Jun laughed so hard that tears would spring to her eyes. The two became fast friends. The boy was a few years older, and the two had to keep their friendship a secret due to their difference in station. The years would pass too quickly for Si Jun and, the two friends would grow into something more. The young man found himself staring at Si Jun and wanting to touch her hair. Si Jun caught herself gazing at her friend and shyly turning away when he noticed her looking at him. One day the young man declared his love for Si Jun, and she returned his sentiments. The seasons began to change, and war was brewing to the south. Si Jun's young admirer told her that his family's honor demanded that he join the troops. Tears filled Si Jun's eyes again, but this time they were filled with sadness. The young man held a pink peony bloom out to Si Jun. As she leaned in to breathe in its fragrance a wisp of her hair dropped to her cheek. Her admirer gently fingered the soft lock and tucked it behind her ear. He then secured the wayward strand with his gift of the pink peony. He asked Si Jun to wait for him, and she acquiesced. He left her then, and she turned toward the river not wanting to see him go. Her peony wilted, but Si Jun remained steadfast in her love. When she went to put the blossom in water, she noticed something entwined about the flower's stem. She worked her agile fingers and discovered a tiny scroll. Si Jun unrolled the note and inside was an address for her admirer's troop. Si Jun promised herself that she would write to her lover every day, and she did. She sent him gifts too. She sent him a lock of her hair woven with silk threads into a ring and a handkerchief embroidered with their initials entwined, but she never received a reply. The weeks trudged by, and Si Jun had an idea. She would make a little purse each month for her lover. She would fill each one with wishes and hopes for her admirer's safe return and their future life together. The first purse she embroidered with a likeness of the pink peony her lover had given her. She tied the purse to the base of a peony tree's branch. Next month, another purse joined the first one on the same branch. And again the following month another purse was added to the line. Twenty months passed by, and the peony's branch began to bend with fatigue. The gods took notice of Si Jun's faithful endeavor. A proposal was made to reunite the two lovers. The gods agreed. One immortal made note of the picturesque blend of the peony leaves and the line of purses. Another suggested to honor Si Jun's faithful steadfastness by combining the leaves of the peony tree and the heart shaped teardrop purses into living flora. And that my reader, is the story of how the bleeding heart was created through the devotion of a pure heart.

My Drawing Process

I began sketching the bleeding heart flower buds from right to left in a slight arch. Then, I folded the paper in half and traced the the flowers on the reverse side of the paper to complete the heart's adjoining curves.

I had trouble determining the shape of the leaves, so I went outside and picked this leaf! That did the trick, and I could easily count the leaf points.

The above photo is the completed sketch. I used a fine tipped permanent marker to trace the lines that I wanted to show up in the scanned image. Then, I erased the pencil as best as I could. When I scanned the image, I darkened the scan setting to eliminate any pencil remnants. This scanning process took a few tries. Below is my sketch ready to be scanned.

Once the computer file is scanned into my image editing software, I cleaned up the lines and added text. Below is the link to download and print the free PDF.