Sunday, 15 February 2015

Using Up Scrap - Thrifty ideas Project #1

We all have a growing amount of scrap paper that we somehow can't get rid of and some of my favourite cards are the ones that I have made from a pile of scrap paper. Every so often I like to try a simple design that makes the maximum use of scraps - after all, its nice to feel thrifty but creative every now and then. I had some lovely autumnal coloured paper that I had used for an earlier project. Most of the pieces had chunks taken out of them or were too bold to use on their own. 
The first step was quite easy - select several strips and trim them into strips then using a 90 degree angle, cut a flag end at the bottom of each. You can use the strips all the same size but I liked the randomness of using different widths and lengths but just make sure they all still fit on your card stock. Place them on your card with some strip adhesive or glue making sure they are dry before adding the next layer.
For the greeting strip I just used a plain piece of paper and stamped the 'enjoy the journey' message. The strip itself was a bit stark against the background so I decided to give it an antique look. For this all I did was use a dark ink pad, a paint brush and then stippled some of the ink around the edges of the card then used my finger to blend the edges. This gave it that antique look whilst taking away some of the stark looking edges. Some people like to use proper blending sponges and these are great but I have not invested in one yet. Once I do I will try out both techniques and see which one I prefer.

I finished off the greetings strip with two paper pins and two butterflies that I cut from some more scraps with my butterfly punch. To give a real 3D effect I just glued one wing down and bent up the other wing. Just watch this when you add the card to an envelope as they can be easy to catch but I think they give a really easy adornment to a simple and thrifty card.




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