Waltzingmouse St. Paddy's Day Blog Hop

What could be more natural than an Irish stamp company sponsoring a St. Patrick's Day blog hop!  The blog roll is in a thread on the Waltzingmousehouse Forum - why don't you register so you can join us in hopping along? The forum thread will open in the "Play Room" around 3 p.m. today. If you don't see it, just check back. Remember to comment along the way!

For my card, I used one of Claire's free digi stamps - the bunch of clover. Have you seen the other free images included in the zip? Gorgeous! Other, traditional stamps I used include the sentiment and four-leaf clover stamp from the Waltzingmouse Celtic Heritage set, and tiny shamrock and inside sentiment from the Irish Blessings set.  The sets have so many wonderful images, like the Irish Cottage I used on another St. Patrick's Day card!

I printed the bunch of clover on color laser paper and colored it with Copics. Cardstock that allows Copics to blend well can be very expensive. A tip from the queen of Copics on the "I Like Markers" blog is to use color laser printer paper! It is trimmed with a label four nestie (Spellbinders).

I stamped the Celtic four-leaf clover with green ink (Bamboo Leaves - Memento), trimmed it with a label one nestie (Spellbinders) and colored the background and edges with Copics. It is adhered with a thick dimensional pop dot.

The sentiment and tiny clover was stamped with green on the base cardstock (Stampin' Up!). The striped paper is from the Sea Glass collection (K & Company).



Inside I stamped the same large celtic four-leaf clover and a shamrock blessing in green (Bamboo Leaves - Memento). I had a sliver of the striped paper trimmed from the front and it made a nice dash of pattern on the inside of the card! Love tying the front and insde together with repeating design elements.

I hope you enjoyed this step in the blog hop, and would love it if you would leave a comment! Hearing from you is what makes blogging fun! Thanks for looking, and happy St. Patrick's Day!

Peaceful Irish Cottage - Shamrock Blessings to you!

I love this serene image of an Irish cottage by Waltzingmouse Stamps. I was looking for a peaceful scene and I think this really captures that feeling. The shamrock has three leaves, so it is associated with the Holy Trinity, and I have a shamrock blessing for all of you inside!  All stamps used are from the Irish Blessings set, except the large shamrock inside which is from the Celtic Heritage set.



I stamped the scene in brown (Rich Cocoa - Memento) on Cream (110 lb. - Flourishes) and colored it with Copics - the cardstock was a dream for blending and coloring! I trimmed and embossed it with a Petite Oval Nestie (Spellbinders) and colored the edge with a brown Copic marker. This was backed by a pink scalloped layer.

The olive background (Stampin' Up!) was stamped with shamrocks (Bamboo Leaves - Memento) and the edge was scalloped with a border punch (Apron Lace - Fiskars) then wrapped with a pink and brown ribbon.  To extend the cardfront back to full size after punching the edge of it away, I backed it with cream cardstock tinted with pale yellow Copics.



I wanted the cream cardstock to be decorative on the inside as well as the outside, so I scalloped the inside edge. It is always nice to repeat elements from the card front on the inside! I stamped the large Celtic shamrock in green and the shamrock blessing in brown.

This card is my submission for several challenges:

First, it is for Stamping Sisters In Christ Challenge #30:

SCRIPTURE
Psalm 29:11 "The LORD will give strength unto his people; the LORD will bless his people with peace."


CHALLENGE
Make a card/layout/project using a peaceful image or a verse about peace.

I think my peaceful Irish cottage and shamrock blessing fit this challenge perfectly!

Second, it is for the Waltzingmouse color challenge on Stamping Around, which was to use a neutral like white or kraft, plus pale green, sugar pink, and pale yellow. I came as close as I could with the green!

Third, it is for the Our Creative Corner Color Challenge by Silke Ledlow, who I had the good fortune to meet in the Flourishes booth at the show this weekend in Perry, Georgia! The color challenge was to use brown, pink, green, and yellow.

Fourth, it is for the Stamp Simply #130 Color Challenge - Pink and Green with added Brown!  I really lucked out that so many challenges were on the same color palette!

I hope you have enjoyed my peaceful Irish cottage card and I wish you lots of shamrock blessings!  Please leave a comment - that is what makes it all worthwhile!