I purchased the Market Square collection by Farm House Paper Company over a year ago and have only managed to use 1-2 sheets.  It’s not my usual style at all but there was something about the muted colors and vintage feel that said I needed to buy it.  I knew it would be a challenge for me but would also help expand my crafting horizons.  LOL.  After watching a favorite YouTube crafter use a “not my style” paper pad I got motivated to pull this out and try again.

Although it’s an urban theme, the newspaper print made me think of farmhouse and… chickens???  I paired the newspaper print with polka dots and scalloped die cuts which I think kept with the farmhouse theme.  Since the paper and images weren’t specific to any holiday or occasion, I went with a simple “Just Saying Hello” sentiment.

Having already used a sheet of the larger floral print, I knew it was best to stick with larger pieces so that the pattern didn’t get lost.  I used a chocolate brown cardstock as matting for the first couple of cards and added matte gold Love from Lizi peel-offs and Nuvo drops as embellishments.  I liked the subtle shine of the embellishments and decided to use some gold metallic cardstock for the next few cards.  And although only a small amount of the cardstock is visible, it definitely brightens up the cards.

While all of the paper in the Market Square collection is the same theme, not all of the papers work well together color or pattern-wise.  I still had a partial sheet of the polka dot paper left and after trying it with the remaining paper decided to pair it with the diagonal stripe.  The stripe paper also had some of the teal color and the patterns didn’t compete with each other.

I liked the polka dot and stripe combination and decided to use it again, only this time using the stripe paper as the background.  Centering the polka dot panel on the card and adding a solid color banner helped keep the stripe from being overwhelming.  To keep the card from being too flat an off-white twill ribbon was added around the top of the card.

Once I found a layout and paper combination that I liked, I made several of each card.  For some layouts I was able to make 9 cards and others only 3.  I still have a few full sheets and some scraps but I’m quite happy with the progress I made on this collection.