Wednesday Imagine my surprise when I opened that binder to select some scraps and found, basically, a card nearly made in one of the sleeves. Really I just had to cut the word and the circle from some scraps on my desk and stick it all down! Easy peasy.
Thursday – Saturday An odd one! I stumbled across what had to have been a scrapbook layout I planned and never completed. I knew it was unlikely I would ever complete it as a layout – not really a style I would say was mine, certainly not at this time, maybe never, and maybe why I never completed it to begin with! So I cut a window from some scrap card, so I could preview what certain areas might look like as a card front:
Once I decided on the right areas, I cut the three blocks. I pretty quickly made three cards using a large die cut on two and a stamped and embossed them die cut image on the other.
OK so five weeks of cards and I have quite a stash now. Still OMG sooooo much paper and card still to work thru, but I think it makes more sense to abandon the whole a day part. There is soooo much I am working on. I feel like sticking to the weekends to batch make cards makes sense, given the tendency I have to make one, then another from the scraps, and then maybe even one more from those scraps. It seems to be how I work anyway. I’ll still be adding cards on the weekends but keep my time during the week for other projects, like my junk journal, maybe finally getting time to go back to art journaling, and other mixed media fun from the MME challenges. Pretty soon school will be out for the summer and my daughter will be claiming ore of my time, so best to have a plan!
Sunday – Oh dear. I discovered the binder that I used in the past to sort scrap for cardmaking. Each sleeve has what I believe will work together to create a card.
The things in this binder really need to get sorted into the envelopes in the system I am using now, but I thought why not go ahead and make this week’s cards from the binder? It’ll likely be paper I have not used or even seen for a while so maybe kinda fun!
To begin with, a tale of the frustration of YouTube. I HATE it when you see a glimpse of something and then it disappears and no matter how hard you try you simply cannot find it again! I saw a thumbnail that I wanted to watch but when I finished the video I actually clicked on (with my daughter, something like All the best stuff coming to Netflix in July) and hit back, it was nowhere to be found. I Googled SO MANY THINGS to find it I can’t even remember. and then a few days later, while on the treadmill, I saw that thumbnail again! I clicked and watched it. It was a fun pinwheel card (which I intentionally did not use when searching cause I was sure I would get the whirlygig style pinwheel, like the ones you blow on) called a Pinwheel Tower.
I liked it a lot and knew I was going to try to make one for at least one of the cards this week. I had an idea for a change but no time to fiddle about to make it work. But I did make one. Easy enough, and of course after I found ONE then YouTube showed me a dozen more variations – it turns out it’s a Stampin’Up design (I think) so every SU gal seems to want to do their own video of it. This is the one I followed.
Let’s call this the front
Flip
Flip
Added to write the words
Standing up
From the top
And yeah, it does fit neatly in a standard (A6?) envelope!
Monday and Tuesday but both made on Monday! The next two were from the binder. I made this one first:
Then this one from the scraps and using the same dies:
The interesting thing is I also used two things I have had hanging about forever. This ink is the best ink I ever bought for clear stamps. Never that weird spotty look you get sometimes, even on brand new stamps. I love it. They don’t make it anymore, or not that I can find. Shame. And the odd little pick-up things, no idea where I got them. They work, but BluTack on the end of a stylus works too, for when I run out of these.
I seem to be slipping more and more into making more than one card in a session, when I have a lot of scraps from card One. My feeling is this challenge is more about using stuff up than the one-a-day thing, so I refuse to let myself worry about that. It’s my challenge to myself so I set the rules! I do feel it might be time to set out alllll the cards and take an overall shot. Might do that next week and see where I am.
Part two. OK, so I made all these cards in one day (Thursday) because I had a bunch of scraps on my desk from other cards, and looking at them they seemed to create little cards all by themselves.
I had a small stack of really small kraft cardstock cards with envelopes that managed to use up almost all of the scraps! I also had a test punch of a leafy frond and some previously die cut sentiments that I figured I might as well use up:
See what I mean about creating themselves? Basically I was just pushing the scraps around on top of the card fronts and sticking them down!
You can see the leftovers from each card – only the stripey one had enough to save and maybe use for another card!
I’ll get back on track, but I suspect that I will once again do a foursome when I amass enough scraps that I can use them up!
Sunday I am really liking the slimline cards, although in some ways they are a struggle. They don’t have a lot of surface to cover, so not really burning thru my scraps when I make them, and sometimes the design options seem a bit limited. I mean, I could make 100 cards that look more or less just like this one with ease:
I won’t, but I could.
Monday So this one, I was trying to use a set that had a sentiment and a surround, but very much another case of you-get-what-you-pay-for. I had a sample that I tried, using Distress Oxide ink swiped across an embossing folder and then embossed so the detain popped forward in white. It’s something I have seen a LOT recently using the new 3D embossing folders, but of course it works with old folders too, perfectly well. Anyway, although by ACAD challenge is to use up stuff, I decided to use that sample and a scalloped strip from my scrap stash
I just want you to look carefully at the letters. Virtually all of them (except the Hap of Happy) are disconnected. In a quality die, all the letters are going to be joined. It was pretty infuriating to get things nicely positioned in the backing mat. But in the end it looks cute and I don’t have a test sample hanging about waiting to be used.
Tuesday I had another stamp&die set that was floral, and I had the idea to stamp the rather sketchy flowers over patterned paper rather than plain card, to see what sort of effect it gave. It was OK
This is quite an odd set. It has this flower, a larger die that cuts outlines, a bunch of center piece dies and a couple more stamps. I have not sorted out how they are all meant to fit together, really, and the card is not my favourite but I guess it is good for my stash. I suspect maybe the stamped flower might fit behind the outlined ones but not sure.
At this point my little stack of cards is getting pretty big. I want to make a few cards that I may need (like a few sympathy cards) instead of all the Just a note…, Hi there… generic ones and Happy Birthday ones that I know I will need. But tomorrow I will add a group of four that I kinda cheated on, making them all in one day. It’ll make sense when you see them, I promise!
Thursday, I had a handful of these card fronts that have an embossed area in the middle. They are VERY old. But I’d like to use them up so:
Pretty basic stuff but I was glad to use that heart die that I have had kicking around for ages. Not 100% sure of the two-different-heart styles but it’s fine.
And I left the scraps on my desk for Friday and just shuffled the scraps around to create another card.
And I still had a couple of scraps at the end. Really, this process is just scraps making scraps until those scraps are too small to be useful. It’s endless!
Yesterday (Saturday), I could have maybe tried to make another card with the leftovers but I wanted a change of colour. I have to say, I do love this one. I have a ring full of curves that I used for a scrapbooking class I tough 10 years ago. And a curved ruler as well that I never really use anymore. In the end I just used the ruler, cause I could run my blade along it and cut, where I can’t do that with the cardboard curves. I just grabbed some cardstock that (mostly) spanned the width of the card front and stacked the curves
I also used a sentiment die and both cut a printed sentiment AND some plain strips to create this kinda snarky card – I have someone in mind for this one LOL! These sentiment dies are so much more useful than just cutting the stamps that come with them.
I dragged out some paper strips, pre-punched borders and a pack of slimline cards for my Sunday card. a very fast one, and a little tip.
I have some foam squares that seem to be sticky only on one side. I save them for using in the middle of popped items. That way the full sticky-on-both-sides squares do the actual attaching round the perimeter of the element and the one-side-sticky ones stick to either the card or the element and still do the work of popping where it doesn’t matter. Instead of just tossing them in the bin I can actually use them. You can see the top protective film is just falling off, but the bottom is fully sticky.
On Monday I made another simple card with two coordinating designs of patterned paper, from another paper pad with scraps tucked inside I seem to have a lot of them. Again, using the waste from die cutting the sentiment then I filled it with a stack of white card topped with the other patterned paper. I did the base card then added two different elements tot he envelope for adding as needed, one more masculine and one more feminine:
I don’t think the pearl dots make it too feminine, especially with the colours, but the floral elements make is girly, despite the colours! I will possibly do this more often, doing no-sentiment cards, for example, as a stash of for-any-occasion cards to have on stand-by.
Tuesday:
As I was putting away the paper pad from the Happy Birthday card, the paper pad from a card last week caught my eye. There were still scraps in that one so I tried to use them up if I could.
I still have a smidge of the solid pink but I used up some big chunks and a couple of bits from a cut-apart sheet.
Thursday: I went a different way, more feminine and girly. I have a fair few birthdays coming up the second half of the year so need a lot of ladies birthday cards. This one fits the bill nicely. I began with a couple of embossed strips from a pack of strips I have had for possibly 20 years, maybe 25.
Then I went to my very organized packs of papers and pulled out any that even sort-of went with them colourwise. I narrowed it down to the two on the right:
and went with the floral in the end. I wanted to add some gems and when I went to that drawer I found these, begging to be used up!
I have a lot of them but they need glue added to the backs of many of the gems to ensure they really stick well, they are sooooooo old. I love the card – I used my new sentiments I created to fit my sentiment die and I think they look fab.
Friday:
Not super inspired, this one, but I did use a very old envelope template to make an envelope for the slightly odd sized card. I like the embossed background, and I had the leafy spray cut and just wanted to use it. Not sure if I would have preferred the spray over the light purple oval instead.
Saturday: I found a great card for The Hubster for Father’s Day, but I wanted to make one as well so he gets one from me and from our daughter. Unlikely our son will remember it’s Father’s Day and in this case he doesn’t have the excuse of Oh, it’s US Mother’s Day so you don’t celebrate (when it is a long-standing family tradition and oft referenced as unfair that I get TWO Mother’s days!) or Oh I forgot it was UK Mother’s day… This one was all about making a card without cutting the scraps, if possible:
You can see I made a chart with the sizes of that metal sentiment die so I can cut a couple of options when making a card without needing to cut the whole die. Very handy! I found some sequins in just the right colours:
The olive star is a better match for the dotty cardstock in real life than it looks in the photo.
I am wondering how long I will carry on with this….do I need as many cards as I will have after, say, two months? Maybe I should consider doing four cards a week, two for each day, Saturday and Sunday. I mean, it’s fine, I am enjoying using up my scraps, no doubt, but maybe it is eating up more of my crafting time than it should. I also am considering featuring one card that is slightly more complex one of the weekend days and then just sharing the other as a Gallery. I will ruminate for a bit and see….
I have so many scraps, most of my cards will tend to be made from patterned paper and cardstock so I can use it up! The first one is a really common design with paper strips with the addition of a large embossing folder:
I think this looks fab! Because the cardfront was separate the inside of the card is pristine. I went to the scrap bin for a colour match and used a printable sentiment that I made ages ago, but maybe didn’t share cause I sure can’t find them!
I left the debris on my desk and the next day I decided to try another version of the same technique. This time I built the strips on the card front directly and used a different embossing folder. I also played about with the sentiment strips I had cut before making my extended plates for the Sidekick.
In the end I decided the black was bolder and I prefered it – this is def. a trick I will use again! I love the text over the strips.
Saturday and Sunday:
This time I went to a small paper pad that had some scraps tucked inside and some embossing tools I unearthed:
The final card:
Again, with the scraps on my desk I made this one:
I used a couple of elements from a cut-apart sheet that had bits cut from it already as well as the scraps from the previous day.
Might do just six cards a week so I don’t have to make a card before I can share the Sunday post!
Part One! I am quite torn. There is usually a lot I want to share about the cards, but if I do the weekend posts are going to be very long! I’ll see how it goes…
Monday:
I had the idea to use an old sheet of text from a scrapbook sticker sheet
but in the end there really wasn’t much on there that I felt worked. Maybe Happy Times? I made the card and added one of my very few tolerable stamped sentiments
Tuesday:
I had a pack of pretty paper that had a sticky back so I die cut a few shapes and threw this one together, and used the die cut sentiments I had from my test cut. Because of the sticky-back paper this came together in a flash!
Wednesday:
Going back to an old idea, Serendipity Squares, except circles! Also using scraps tucked inside a small paper pad, and a few whole sheets…
…the card worked pretty well, I think.
And I set aside the scraps because there is surely enough of the serendipity chunk to make another one in a flash. But that is for another day. Trying really hard to stick to A Card A Day!
scrappystickyinkymess 