Button Boutique - Baby Boy Style



Today I am sharing a card I made for a PTI forum member who is having a baby boy in September.  You all know her, Monica of Simply Sunshine.  I started this card before the PTI June release got going with all the wonderful new baby stamps or else I would have had a perfect excuse to buy them!  I stumbled across some really cute brads that I thought would look good on a Button Boutique card.  There are trains, little cars and puppy dogs in the set, so I chose the trains and cars and I had a cute little rocking horse button that blended nicely with the brads.  It is nice to know that you can use brads as well as buttons on these cards.  I punched a scalloped button from a PTI coaster and stamped it with the small gingham stamp in Background Basics: gingham in Spring Moss ink.  I added the brad directly to the button and I think it turned out adorable!  The cardbase is dark chocolate stamped with the Impression Obsession Cover a Card stamp called Screen.  It is becoming my most used background.  It is so great stamped in versamark.  I stamped some polka dots onto Spring Moss cardstock and colored them in with copics and added a little bit of prisma glitter to a few of the dots.  The button card itself is made from Blueberry Sky and the pinked square is Fine Linen stamped again with the Screen background.  I thought it made it look a little like linen material.  I used a punch to make some scallops for both sides of the mat and wrapped a little twine around it.  I made a second little button card for Monica so she can use a few of the little brads on a project of her own in the future.  I wrapped up a little baby boy refrigerator magnet and some sweet baby boy ribbon to include in the package.  When she received the card, Monica thanked me and made my day when she asked me if I had any advice for her as a new mother.  I am sure she has had a ton of people offering her unsolicited advice throughout her pregnancy, so for her to ask me was very touching.  I can't wait for Monica and her husband to have their sweet baby and share some photos with us all.

Raspberry Fizz Garden Variety Birthday Card

Today I am sharing a birthday card I made for my sister.  I absolutely love Garden Variety and the cute picket fence die.  I have always loved the color combination of raspberry fizz and lemon tart and used it to make a bright and cheery birthday card.  The raspberry fizz cardstock is stamped with the Impression Obsession Cover a Card stamp called screen.  It gives a wonderful texture to this card.  I stamped the watering can in spring rain ink, added the cute word "Fleurs" and flowers which were dotted with a white ink pen.  In real life, the flowers are very sparkly and both the seed frame and the watering can are popped up with dimensionals.  The picket fence is cut twice and stamped with the IO CAC Woodgrain stamp and the little nail heads colored with a brown fine tip pen.  The sentiment from Tiny Tags in spring rain as is the "bee" from Honey Bees which is fast becoming a signature piece on many of my cards lately.  I think that little bee is perfect for cards using Garden Variety.  For this card I stamped Sister from Women of Life directly onto the vintage cream doily and folded it over the top of the card.  It looks so pretty in person.  I already gave it to my sister and for someone who is not into making cards, she really loved this one.  Thanks for taking a look!

Papertrey Ink June Blog Hop

I am on vacation, but still wanted to participate in the June Blog Hop which is a photo inspiration challenge. Here is the photo:

 I admit the photo stumped me for a bit.  I much prefer sketch challenges and this photo in particular was very difficult for me to come up with something.  There were, however two things that jumped out at me.  First, the rainbow of colors painted on the wall and the second was the little white baskets at the bottom of the little storage unit.  I immediately thought of the new vintage picnic set that I have been itching to use.  Here is my card:                

I used a vintage cream cardbase stamped with a rainbow of Chevron Stripes.  I tried to get them as close to the colors in the inspiration photo as possible.  I embossed the cardbase with the Linen impression plate.  I cut a couple of circles with nestabilities and stamped my sentiment with Hibiscus Burst ink, bending the sentiment stamp just a little to curve around the circle.  I had to work a bit to get the basket to look similar to the picture and still show up on the card.  I tried white embossing powder on white first.  Didn't show up enough.  Next I tried white embossing powder on vintage white paper.  Still no good.  Lastly, I tried white embossing powder on kraft and it looked pretty good.  I smeared a little fresh snow ink with a Q-tip to make it look a bit whiter and I think that is as close as I can get.  I added a few little roses for no other reason other than I thought they were pretty.  The card still seemed a bit bare, so I added the two layers of ribbon and the Simply Chartruese button and twine at the top.  I think the card turned out pretty, and very loosely reminiscent of the inspiration photo.  Thanks for taking a look!

Happy Father's Day Card

I have been casing quite a few cards lately, and today is one of them.  One of my PTI forum friends, Joyce Mehrberg (rachnsarahsmom is her PTI forum name) made a really great card that she posted in her Splitcoaststampers Gallery using Fruit Fusian, Apple a week or so ago.  I could not get that card out of my mind!  I love the colors she chose for the apples and the patterned paper she stamped with the cute apples.   I know I should have changed it around more, but I really loved her card as is, so I only made just a few tiny adjustments to her original design.  Here is Joyce's card:

Here is the card I made using her design: 

The only thing I changed was the pattern on the chocolate cardbase.  I used an Impression Obsession Cover a Card Woodgrain stamp and the fillable frame with the Father's Day sentiment is stamped on Ripe Avocado.  Other than that, the card is pretty much identical.  Thanks, Joyce for the inspiration.  My Dad loved the card when I gave it to him on Father's Day.  I hope you all will go over and check out Joyce's gallery.  She has made some really great cards using PTI products.  Here is a link to her gallery:

http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/photo/1990237?&cat=500&ppuser=267367

It's the Hot Fun in the Sun Challenge

Today I made a card for the Impression Obsession "It's the Hot Fun in The Sun Challenge".  For more details about this challenge, look here.  I don't have any Summer specific stamps, so I made do with what I do have that reminds me of summer.  Watermelons.  Sweet, juicy and so much fun to eat during the very hot days of Summer here in California.  I based my card design on a beautiful card I received from my PTI friend, Renee Lynch of It's a Patchwork Life.  She sent me a beautiful card earlier this year using Papertrey Ink's All Booked Up stamp set.  Here is her card: 

I always loved how she used Mat Stack #3 upside down.  I thought that was such a creative way to use that die.  I love the colors she chose and if you look closely, you can see she removed the brown ink from the tree leaves and replaced it with green.  How long that must have taken, I can only imagine. 

Here is my card based on Renee's card.

I used a Berry Sorbet cardbase and a New Leaf Mat which was stamped in Versamark with Impression Obsessions Cover a Card stamp, Screen.  I have used this subtle patterned stamp on nearly every single card I make lately.  It adds such great dimension to an otherwise blank piece of cardstock.  Next I  embossed the layer with a cuttlebug folder.  Now, I think these are technically oranges or lemons, but I think they look enough like watermelons to go with the Berry Sorbet Mat Stack #3 and inked it up in Versamark with another wonderful Impression Obsession cover a card stamp, Greenery.I think it gives a really nice, interesting texture to a plain mat stack diecut.  I layered a New Leaf scallop and a white circle stamped with Background Basics, text style on top of the Mat Stack.  Those cute watermelons are popped up with dimensionals, and did you notice the "bite" taken from the top watermelon?  A cute sentiment on a double-ended banner diecut is just what this little card needed.  Some twine and a Berry Sorbet button are the finishing touches.  I hope you will check out both Renee's blog and the Impression Obsession website for their Cover a Card stamps.  I love them and look forward to owning more of them in the future.  Thanks for taking a look at my Hot Fun in the Sun card.

Before and After- Papertrey Posse June Challenge

Have you ever made a card and after it was done, blogged and sent on to the recipient you wished you had done it differently?  I do that many times, sort of like when I think of something I should have said if only I had thought of it quick enough.  Today, for the Papertrey June challenge I am going to do a little
Before and After challenge.  For the May Papertrey Ink Blog Hop I made this card:

I liked it.  Was satisfied with it, except...I didn't like the chopped off look to the doily.  I wished I could have a do-over, so that is what I did.  Here is the "After" card.

Can you notice the changes? 

I used the whole doily this time, just let it extend a bit over the edge of the card.  I cut the gingham layer a little bit narrower, so more of the brown card base shows and rounded the cardbase corner.  It seems more balanced this way.  I changed the flower image and added some glitter to it.  I tied some bakers twine around the images and added the cute little gardening tools for a little bit more interest. 

I am much more pleased with this card, what do you think?

Button Boutique - Butterfly Style

It all started with a "cased" card.

This card was the reason I bought Garden Variety and Wildflower Garden.  Michelle Wooderson made the original seen here.  I loved it.  I love the text style stamped over the Fruitti Tutti patterned paper and the beautiful red strawberries.  Now, I don't have any vintage bookprint.  Wish I did, but I don't so I used what I had and stamped some Impression Obsession Cover a Card Newsprint and distressed the edges.  I think it looks almost as good as vintage bookprint, don't you?  I changed the sentiment to fit a birthday, added a little honey bee (thanks, Joyce) and I love how this card turned out.  Except it was almost identical to Michelle's original card.  For that reason, I had to make another card, same basic sketch, just mixed up a little. 

Here is my take on the same sketch, what I call Button Boutique - Butterfly Style

I used royal velvet cardstock stamped with Impression Obsession Cover a Card Woodgrain in versamark for the card base.  The newsprint is stamped on ocean tides with Memento Grape Jelly ink.  I would never have thought ocean tides and royal velvet went together so well, but they are GORGEOUS together.  The button card is rustic white and the little pinked square is stamped with Background Basics Text style in versamark.  Those adorable buttons are from Making Memories and I sewed them on with some purple floss.  I stamped the sentiment and the wildflowers in rustic cream ink.  I added a few diecut butterflies cut from Bitty Box papers, popped up with a few pearls colored with copics.  This time, I wised-up and made an extra button card in a PTI seed packet to give to my PTI friends that I am sending  these cards to.  I want them to "use" the buttons and I realized that I would never cut up a card someone sent me, so to use the cute buttons, there better be an extra set included with the card.  I have had such fun making button cards this past week.  I am going to have to force myself to use another set.  Thanks for taking a look.

Button Boutique-Cupcake & Cherry Style



Another card today using Button Boutique and some unique buttons.  Unique, because they didn't come from Papertrey Ink, that is.  I have enjoyed making a few button cards for friends lately, so I wanted to try to make another one using a couple of cupcake and cherry buttons I found at JoAnns.   I also have a new Cuttlebug 5 x 7 folder I wanted to try with...you guessed it, cupcakes on it!  I used Plum Pudding cardstock embossed with the cupcake folder and a small layer of Hibiscus Burst embossed with a polka dot folder.  A sentiment from Cupcake Collection is embossed in white on the pink mat.  The button card itself is made from white cardstock with Hawaiian Shores ink.  I just love that I can customize every button card I make depending on the size of the buttons.  These buttons are fairly large, so I didn't use a pinked cardstock square on this card.  I sewed the buttons directly onto the card and since it needed a bit more color, I added a little strip of Aqua Mist cardstock embossed with the linen impression plate.  I cut it to a point and added a few rhinestones for some bling. I hope my friend actually uses these buttons someday on a card.  I would get such a kick out it.  

Button Boutique-Fruit Style

I love PTI's Button Boutique stamp set.  I put off buying it for several months as I just wasn't sure that any of my family would truly appreciate a card full of buttons.  So, who WOULD appreciate how cute and crafty this set is? My PTI friends, of course.  Since all my PTI friends probably have lots and lots of the usual PTI buttons, I went shopping for some buttons that are a little less common, something most people may not  have in their button stash.  I found some adorable fruit shaped buttons at JoAnns.  These are especially appropriate because most of us have just received our Fruit Fusion stamp sets and are busily stamping strawberries, cherries, grapes and melons.  I know that I would love to include a special fruit shaped button on a project, so I am hoping some of my PTI friends will feel the same way.

Here is the card I created:

Isn't this bright and cheery.  It makes me happy just  looking at it.  I stamped my gingham Cover-A-Card stamp in versamark on dark chocolate cardstock.  One stamp and the whole card was covered.  The mat for the button card is Spring Moss and the button card itself is white stamped with Pure Poppy ink.  I cut out and popped up the Fancy Buttons label.  The cute little scalloped square is stamped with PTI's small scale gingham in versamark.  I punched holes with a punch and poked the button shanks through and secured them with the little plastic clips the buttons came with.  They should be easy to remove and I hope they will be!  I would love to see some cards one day using these buttons. 

I layered the button card over some Fruitti Tutti paper and a pure poppy punched border.  Some twine and a Tiny Tag were the finishing touch. 

I liked this card so much, I made 4 of them and I am quite sure I will make even more!