September 2020 – Peridot Cards

Ms. Sparkle & Co. Greenery Paper Pad

September 22, 2020 Dawn Comments 0 Comment

And now back to paper that’s more my usual style… I picked up this 5.5 x 7.5 inch paper pad on clearance at JoAnn’s for less than $1. I liked the colors and there was only 1 sheet that wasn’t an all over print.

I can’t remember the order I made the cards so for the pictures I paired them up based on the paper. While some of the cards look similar (i.e. the “Looking Sharp” sentiment cards), others looked quite different depending on the layout and background papers used.

The focal panel for these cards used the 1 sheet that was not an all over print. By trimming the paper to a 3 x 5.5 inch strip and then cutting the strip into 2 pieces I ended up with 2 focal panels that I used for 2 different layouts. I was also able to use the remained of the sheet, which was a solid aqua color, as a background on other cards.

I was excited about this print as it gave me a reason to use a couple of the cactus themed stamp sets that I have. The cactus images were stamped, colored using colored pencil and cut using the coordinating dies. The salmon colored cardstock for the background, picked up from the flower pots in the printed paper, gives the card a warm look. While using the aqua print, shimmer paper and humorous sentiment gives a more lighthearted feel.

As this printed paper was mainly blues and greens, I stuck with that. One card uses an aqua striped print and green cardstock for the background. The other uses a solid aqua paper with cactus images stamped on it with watermark ink. The stamped images are subtle but add some texture to a plain background.

These cards used my favorite paper from the paper pad. There were so many colors (pink, green, gray, aqua) to choose from for backgrounds and accents. For these cards I used green and gray for the backgrounds and a graphic black/white polka dot print for an accent.

Pairing the same print with a bit of pink and scalloped borders gives a brighter and more feminine look. Some pearls, paper flowers, brads and Love from Lizi peel-offs finish the cards.

Even though the tropical print included the same colors as the other papers in the paper pad I struggled to pair it with any of them. But with all the shades of green I was able to find several papers in my craft room, both solid color and print, to match. Since I still had the scallop border punch on my desk I used it to dress up the plain black strip across one of the cards. For the other card I kept it simple with just a few banners in the upper corner and some Nuvo drops for embellishment.

My favorite card from this paper pad was the last card I made. I had 1 full sheet of the diagonal stripe paper which I paired it with the coffee cup print. Both are busy prints but with the black matting and gray sentiment panel I think they look great together.

With the slightly larger paper size and a few additional sheets of paper from my craft room, I made over 50 cards using the Greenery paper pad. My plan was to make cards until I had used all (or most) of the paper. I didn’t think that just a few extra inches of paper would make such a big difference in the number of cards.

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Retro Grunge 12×12 Paper Pad

September 10, 2020 Dawn Comments 0 Comment

For something completely different I pulled out an old Tim Holtz paper pad. I’ve had the paper for many years and decided to challenge myself to use up several sheets. I like the look and colors of the paper, but since it’s not my usual style I find it difficult to figure out how to use it.

The paper pad is a mix of prints and coordinating solids in a few color groups – rusty reds, greens and khakis. I decided to use the khaki color. Since the paper has a masculine feel and an almost military color I decided to run with that.

One of the 12×12 sheets had several 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 inch patterned rectangles that worked great as cut-aparts. I cut several more 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 inch pieces from a coordinating solid color sheet. For the sentiment panel I used some of the 1 x 12 inch strips from another sheet in the paper pad. To keep the card from becoming too distressed looking, I used a crisp graph paper as the background, added a small black banner and a few metallic brads to finish the cards.

The paper for these cards were from a couple of 12×12 sheets that were divided into 6×6 inch patterned panels. I trimmed the panels down to 3 1/4 x 4 1/4 inches and added a die cut of a soldier. The “Thank You” sentiment allows the cards to be used by soldiers to send home or the charity to use to send to soldiers.

Another 12×12 sheet included 2×2 inch cut-aparts, where each patterned square bordered a solid color square. Instead of cutting the paper into 2 inch squares, I cut the paper into 2×4 inch rectangles with 1 patterned square and 1 solid square. The solid square was the perfect place for the stamped sentiment. I double matted the 2×4 piece on a charcoal paper and then black cardstock. A coordinating solid color for the background, some more metallic brands and the cards were complete.

Having used up all of the cut-aparts I was now left with larger patterned prints and solids. I needed something for focal panels which kept with the masculine theme. I found a pocket watch and covered bridge stamps in my collection of wooden stamps. Neither stamp is strictly masculine, but by stamping them with black ink and pairing them with these papers I think they worked.

When looking for embellishments for the first few cards I stumbled across these large brads. Like a lot of things in my craft room I’ve had these brads forever and have no idea where I got them. There were only 2 of each color but they matched these papers perfectly. I kept it simple and used the covered bridge image for the focal panel and added the brads to the upper right corner.

I started with 12 sheets of 12×12 paper and ended with 2 sheets and a few scraps. Having a goal of using all 12 sheets of paper really helped motivate me when trying a style that I find challenging.