Polkadot Door Blog Hop!!

I almost hated to press the 'publish' button on this post...Please forgive all the extra empty spaces throughout it--I cannot seem to correct it!! :(

So very glad to see you today!! On behalf of Rebecca and Sarah of Polkadot Door Designs...WELCOME to the very first Polka Dot Door Blog Hop. Excuse me while I wish them a Happy 1st Birthday!! To celebrate, they've planned a very inspiring Hop for us all to join in on and they plan on making this a monthly tradition!! I know they've worked so hard and are excited to see this day finally here! I'm so very honored they asked me to do what I can to help make it special! Thanks so much, Rebecca and Sarah!!

Take a look at the fun inspiration challenge for this very first hop...

Notice the 3 elements?... (1)the "smile" sentiment, (2) the crocheted flowers, and (3) the photo itself. I thought the multi-element idea was a fun one! The rest of the Guest Design Team and I were challenged to come up with our own projects with those 3 elements in mind. While I didn't initially plan on it, I've also used Teacher Appreciation Week as a source of inspiration, as I was in need of some small tokens of appreciation for several teachers and assistants. I thought the pinwheels would be a sweet reminder that summer break is just around the corner for some weary teachers!
I first HAD to try my hand at those cheery pinwheels-n-pots. I used some of my favorite, cheery papers from My Mind's Eye and used the crocheted flowers and buttons for the centers...

I made 3 little pots...

I used a Papertrey sentiment to stamp "smile" on the ends of some wide ribbon...

These truly did bring smiles to faces today...The teachers seemed delighted!!

I wanted to try one that would be more of a keepsake, in a little more "classic teacher" style, so I came up with this...

I had some double sided Cosmo Cricket paper that had "teacher" written all over it...almost literally!...

I really liked the big crocheted flower I was able to use on this one...put a vintage style button in the center. The head of the pinwheel is kind of simple, but I was able to dress things up around the base...

After filling the pot with styrofoam, I cut a solid red circle and then placed a doily on top. Perfect fit!! I wrapped the dowel with seam binding and then made a pretty bow with it, too. Dressed it out further with wider ribbon, buttons, another flower, a trinket pin and some paper leaves cut with a Spellbinder die. I wanted the back to be pretty, too, in case it wound up on a desk, so I dressed out the back with a Papertrey Doily die cut and another crocheted flower and button.

There's a handmade chiffon flower and button at the base.

And finally, the card. I worked the Book Fair everyday this week at our elementary school and saw the CUTEST little die cuts on a poster. Thank goodness I have connections since I previously taught there, and I was able to take my paper in to get my own little cuties! This little guy was hooked together with four other cute boys and girls and was intended to be a border die cut. He was on the end, though, so I just snipped him away from the cute little girl he was holding hands with (so much for THAT romance! They were too young anyway!) to make him the focal point of this card. Look how excited he is to be taking his teacher a treat...

I had ONE crocheted flower left and used it to embellish the card (THANK YOU, Kathryn, for the flowers!!)...

You can see that I stamped the little Papertrey 'smile' sentiment along the ribbon I used.

The tiny pinwheel head looks a little distorted in this photo...it was made with a 1" square. I think that's about as tiny as I would want to work with!!

Believe it or not...I think that's everything from me. Hope I didn't keep you too long, because you have more stops to make! Be sure to comment here on my post, and then visit the rest of the designers below (and comment!) for a chance to win 2 different prizes. There is also a chance to share your own take on this inspiration challenge by linking your project at the Polkadot Door. Winners will be chosen from those who've participated in the challenge, and additional prizes will be awarded, along with the chance to be a guest designer for the June Blog Hop. You can find each and every detail at The Polkadot Door! I hope you'll all join in to make this first hop a lot of fun and a huge success for Rebecca and Sarah.

Kim

Natasha

Amanda

Valerie

Jean

Diana

Nicole

Yvonne

Amy

Dana

Jennifer

Polkadot Door Designs
Thanks so much for stopping!! Have fun!!

Geri