GCA #68 - How do you use those buttons?

Hello all!!! I hope everyone is enjoying the end of the Thanksgiving weekend, but the start of the Christmas Holidays!!!

I love Christmas with all the lights, sounds, decorations and simple happy time the season evokes. But, we must also remember, at least for me, the real reason for the the Christmas Holidays - the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ.

As I was thinking about what to do for this week, I had some spare buttons laying on my table and started to play with them and viola! - GCA #68 was born. I've also seen some very cute cards lately where buttons have been used in place of more traditional items. Like what you ask?

Well...

* red buttons as holly berries
* green buttons as a wreath or Christmas tree
* white buttons as snow or snowmen

The possibilities are endless and only limited by what you want to create!!! Now, the challenge this week is to show how you use your buttons on a papercraft creation, either card scrapbook page or gift item, but DOES NOT have to be Christmas related.

Well my sample for you this week took on a life of it's own as I created this card!! It took me all day, as I had to wait for the glue to dry and then decide on placement and so on!!! But, I love the end result and this is a card that will be going to someone very special and not through the mail!!!

For my button wreath I used buttons from the Playground and Button Bouquet sets - only the green ones! The red ones came from the Playground set. To make my wreath I first started with a circle template cut to use as a guide. The buttons cover this so you can't see it. I used linen thread through my buttons and then placed them in a circle after they were all strung. Using Tombow multi glue, I glued them onto the circle template.

Because I had three different sizes of the green buttons, I used the two larger ones for the wreath base and the smaller ones for adding a second layer. The red holly buttons were strung together as the green ones and then pulled snug to "jumble" them. I used my 5 petal flower punch for the leaves in Garden Green.

The bird is actually a leftover piece I had on my table from an earlier project and I thought it looked just right on the wreath. The bird is from Friends 24-7 and is stamped in craft Garden Green on Certainly Celery and clear embossed.

My base card is Shimmery White and I used a piece of scrap Christmas Cocoa dsp in the flocked red on the top. The wreath is up on dimensionals as is the bird on top of the buttons!

Can't wait to see what you come up with for how to use your buttons!

Upload your creation to either your blog or to an online gallery and post a link to your creation to this blog entry by December 5, 2009 at 12 midnight. I will choose the winner the next day. If you upload your card to SCS, PaperCraft Planet, Stampin' Addicts or Stamp TV, please put GCA68 in your keywords. That way everyone can see all of the wonderful creations at once!

Even if you can't make the drawing deadline, PLEASE feel free to participate in the challenges and upload your creations at any time. I would love to see it! And yes, my challenge is open to everyone who visits, even if you live outside the US!

Happy Stamping!!!

~~~Ann~~~