PTI March Blog Hop

Hi everyone! I hope you're enjoying the Hop tonight. The theme for this month's Blog Hop was to use buttons on a card or project. I used quite a few on mine but I really adore how it turned out. I've had this idea in my head ever since I saw Jessica Witty's button tree that she made with the Through The Trees stamp set. I don't have that set but I do have OOAL so I used that.

I free-handed the rolling hills from Bitty Dots paper (Spring Moss + Ripe Avocado). The "tree" is the branch image from Out On A Limb. The circles behind the buttons are the smallest image in Dot Spot. The buttons are likely all from Making Memories - they're the flat ones and lucky me, I found them in all the colors of the rainbow. I didn't start out making a rainbow tree but as I started finding buttons it was turning into that so I just went with it. And I like it. The "sun" is a button on top of a flower. Serendipitous that they worked so perfectly together! The card base is Dark Chocolate with the front layer being, of course, Stampers Select White (PTI.)

The inside sentiment is from Everyday Button Bits. I went 'round and 'round whether to put this on the outside of the card but couldn't find a spot where it "fit". It just always looked in the way. So, I decided to just keep the fun, colorful image on the front and include the sentiment on the inside. This one seemed to express it best.

Enjoy the rest of your Hop! :)

Happy St. Patrick's Day to you

Top o' the mornin' to you! I'm not a bit of Irish but my husband is and his family celebrates it big time. It's fun to be married into a big Irish Catholic family! :) Today he received an email about "You know you're Irish if..."

You have a sister/cousin/aunt named Mary, Catherine, or Eileen. Check!
You have at least one aunt or uncle who is a nun or priest. Check!
You spent a lot of your childhood on your knees in prayer. Check!
You know someone named Murphy, Mac, or Sully. Check!
You have a cousin who is a cop, funeral parlor owner or politician. Check!
Someone in your family is very generous. And it's probably you. Check!
Two family members are not talking to each other. They're not fighting, they're just not talking to each other. Check!

There were many more but it was pretty funny.

Anyway, onto today's card.

The stamps I used were Luck of the Irish (PTI) and the background stamp is from Waltzingmouse Stamps but I don't recall the name. Something like Irish Blessings or Celtic Sayings. The background stamp was a bit of a bugger to get all those images lined up so it doesn't look perfect, but rather "homemade". ;)

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy a green beer tonight! It's on me. ;)

Lucky...

There are quite a few things that I feel lucky to have but right about now I'm feeling so very lucky to have so many great online friends in "blogland." :) I love to hang out on the PTI forums - they are filled with so many caring, thoughtful, and creative souls from not only all over the US but from all over the world. I made this card for a recent swap on Papertrey Ink and sent it to Monica in Florida. I really like these tall (or long if you turn it on its side!) cards; this one is 4" x 8".

The inside is stamped with a sentiment from Waltzingmouse Stamps and says:
For each petal on the shamrock
this brings a wish your way,
Good health, good luck, and happiness
for today and every day.
-An Irish blessing

Stamps: Luck of the Irish (PTI), brackets (unknown), clover (WMS)
Ink: Ripe Avocado (PTI)
Paper: Spring Moss, Aqua Mist (PTI); stripes (MME); polka dots (MM); vintage book print
Other: twine (PTI), scalloped border die (PTI), ribbon, button, flower punch

I have one more St. Patrick's Day card that I'll post later. Later, gators! :)

Challenge

When challenges are posted on the various sites and blogs I'm generally not a regular player. Not because I don't enjoy the challenge but it's usually time constraints or I already have something else that is just itching to come out on to paper and I don't want to push that aside to do a challenge. But, this time the "recipe" that Becky Oehlers challenged on her blog post here caught my attention. I think what drew me in was to use white embossing on stone cardstock. I'd been wanting to try that combo anyway so this seemed like a perfect chance. The CS sizes threw me for a bit of a loop since I didn't want to just copy what Becky had done. I also had to substitute some ribbon - can you believe I didn't have any dark blue ribbon!? For shame! ;) I pushed that Stone CS around I don't know how many times trying to figure out what to do with it. I really wished I had Through the Trees set (PTI) for this but I kind of like the smaller trees as well. What do you think?

 

Stamps: Trendy Trees (SU!)

Ink: Versamark

Paper: Stone (PTI); navy blue, orange (unknown)

Other: Embossing powder (PTI), ribbon (American Crafts?), button, Labels 1 (Spellbinders)

I'm feeling particularly restless and bored today. Maybe a long walk will do me good. The sun is shining (again!) and it's not half bad out - up to 45 degrees! :) Have a good one!

Happy Birthday Heather

Today my crafty SIL turns another decade older (I won't say which one! lol) Here is the card I sent to her.

Stamps: Everyday Button Bits, Fancy Flourishes (PTI)
Ink: VanDyke Brown (Nik Bantok)
Paper: Vintage Cream, Dark Chocolate (PTI); red/cream  polka dot (Graphic 45); vintage book print
Other: flower, button, scalloped punch (EK Success)

Sorry such a short post - gotta get the kids in bed. Well, one of them at least. The other one is riveted to American Idol. :)