The Tale of Three Buttons and the Meandering Road~

Once upon a time on an early Sunday morning a card needed to be made. The artist decided to use the Featured Stamper Challenge from a neighboring community for inspiration. In perusing the gallery filled with cards with lots of layers, big fat ribbons, brads, scallops and more, she found this card: Valentine Topiaries. With good intentions she began to create her version of card, intended for her mother-in-law for an upcoming birthday.

Switching tense, as I am just not a creative writer like some of the bloggers out there.....

I started with the Artsy Flowers (Shady Lane Studio) from CHF by stamping them onto Natural White by Neenah Paper using Timber Brown StazOn Ink. I quickly watercolored them with reinkers and a watercolor brush. Then I began to build the card around the image. I tried several combinations of green, scalloped edges, big fat ribbons and nothing seemed to work. My circular file was filling up too quickly, I didn't like anything I had created. Swithing gears, I put the inspiration picture away and took the meandering road to see where it would lead. Taking the idea from yesterday's card, I decided to toss the green striped patterned paper I was using and pulled out this luscious chocolate polka dotted paper from October Afternoon and tore off the bottom edge. This left room for a sentiment that I so desperately needed for this card. While the chocolate was luscious, it needed something else, so the Kiwi Kiss strip was added to help weight the image down. Ahhh, almost done, a few dimensionals to adhere the image to the card. DONE!

I took the card to Jay for his "approval." Not that I really need it, but after all, it is for his mom. He loved the card and knew his mom would, too. As I returned to my stamp counter to begin to clean up the mess I had created in this meandering road to completion, I noticed an imperfection; a thumbprint, vaguely imprinted on the lower left of the card, courtesy of my beloved.

ACCCKKK, I screamed in my head. How can I fix this? How can I incorporate something down there that looks like it was intended to be there all along?

Buttons to the rescue, three of them, to be exact. In the colors of the card. Sewn on with a few linen thread scraps. Whew, I did not want to start all over.

V.~

Stamps: Artsy Blooms (Shady Lane Studio) by CHF, On your Birthday by SU!
Ink: StazOn Timber Brown, Versafine Vintage Sepia
Paper: Marigold Morning, Kiwi Kiss by SU!, Suede Brown Dark by Prism, Natural White by Neenah Paper
Patterned Paper: October Afternoon
Other: Reinkers: Marigold Morning, Old Olive, Cool Caribbean by SU!, Watercolor brush, Edge distresser by Making Memories, Dimensionals