Saturday, January 21, 2012

Use Your Stash Blog Hop

If you are joining us for the "Use Your Stash Blog Hop" you are right on track. WELCOME! You should be coming from Shirley's Blog.

There are 13 participants this month. If you get lost along the way you can see the entire list of hoppers on Rachel's Blog. Let's get started.

Today I am showcasing a few cards that I've made this week.  This month, there have been several birthdays at work and I knew I needed to get cards made, but I wasn't sure what to do.  The weather here in Texas has not been winter-like at all, so I decided I'd go with flowers/bright colors.  Now, I haven't been involved with Close To My Heart for very long (only a year) but I had some items laying around that could definitely be used to clear out some space.

These cards are for a few of my friends/customers that I decided to send a new Idea Book to in our school mail.  I used the 4.5 Circle Cards (Z1352).  The flower images are from the Smiles stamp set (C1397) and the dimensional flowers were created by punching 5 2" circles with the 2" Scallop Circle Punch (Z1392) out of Mayberry (use any patterned paper you like) paper.  I used 1 of the circles as base, the other 4, I folded into fourths.  I lined up the points of the folded circles and glued them to the 1st circle.  Then, I chose a cute brad to be the center of the flower.
This card, and the 2 that follow, are different variations from one I found in our
 Wishes Card Confidence Program .  When I'm stumped on a lay out of anything, I go to the How-To books by Jeanette Lynton, the founder of Close To My Heart. 
For the black, white, and Tulip card, I used white card stock and cut it down to be a 4.5 x 4.5 card.  I had a bunch of black and white paper, so I just cut it down to a 4x4 square.  Add in a strip of colored cardstock (Tulip) and ink the edges to give depth.  Next, I added a Dimensional Element that had been inked in Tulip to match the colored cardstock.  I then added my sentiment and to jazz it up for the lady, I added bling.  Every girl needs a little bling in her life, right?

Here is another card that is about 4.5 x 4.5 with a foundation cardstock cut at 4 x4.  To give some dimension, I scored the pink-colored cardstock at every 1/4 inch.  After I scored, I turned it over and sanded the paper using the Sanding Kit (Z1294).  One of the things I love about cardstock from Close To My Heart is the fact that it has a white center and color on the outsides.  So, when I sanded the paper, I sanded away the color to reveal the white underneath.  Next, I cut a strip of patterened paper (again, Mayberry) and inked the edges.  I believe this strip was about and inch or so.  Remember, the whole card isn't more than 4.5" squared.  Again, I found a Dimensional Element (Mixed Shapes  Z1683) and inked it to match the strip.  I tried to pull out a color that is very tiny on the strip, so I went with blue.  For good measure, I stamped a flower on the D.E. and then added a little blue bling.


Here is the last card, again, same design layout, but with different colors/papers and a whole different look.  I L-O-V-E finding a good "go to" type design that I can use with as many different colors/themes/patterns as I can find.  Each one is unique, but they are easy to assemble because there isn't too much to do. 
Here, I used 2 patterened papers out of the Mayberry pack from about a year ago.  Ink the edges of the papers, add some dimension with a Dimensional Element and voila! 
You are done!



 Thanks for stopping by, please feel free to leave a comment to let me know what you think.  I love followers, so add yourself!

Now hop on over to Rachel's Blog for more ideas of using up your stash.

2 comments:

  1. All the cards are fantastic. I definitely will find some paper to is up with these ideas. thanks :)

    ReplyDelete