Ugly Papers Challenge

 

I just got a pack of paper for my birthday.  Many of the designs are GORGEOUS - pretty patterns - quite a few even have foiling.  However, there are some papers that I find myself wondering "why on earth did they include these? They're UGLY!"  I've set myself a challenge to use those papers FIRST. Today I have 4 cards made from 1 sheet of "ugly" paper.  Here's the paper I started with:

Now, "ugly" is in the eye of the beholder, and I'm sure many people will think this paper pretty, but when I was leafing through, this was one that jumped out at me as being "ugly".  I'll admit, that when after using it to make cards, I actually found myself liking it more than I thought I would!  I made 4 cards with this sheet of paper - 3 slim line and one 5 x 7.  Now, I know I could have gotten a lot more cards if I had used the paper more sparingly or made A2 sized cards, but the point was to USE IT UP - so why bother with that? 😉  Here are the cards that I made, in no particular order.

Card #1:

As you can see, this first card is a landscape slimline card.  After inking the edges and gluing the background in place, I started working on the border.  I had a piece of leftover card stock from making the card base, but I wanted a purple piece that would pick up the colors in the patterned paper.  SO, I ended up using 3 different types and colors of layered ink - Picked Raspberry Distress Oxide, Dusty Concorde Distress Ink, and a Gray Granite from Stampin Up.  I had the stamped sentiment strip in my stash (my Mom's stamp/die set) but it was on white, so I inked it to make it a more cream color.  Finally, I added a couple of 3-D butterfly stickers that I got at the Dollar Store.  

Inside:

Inside I have more of the same - added a butterfly trail with a dark purple marker.

Card #2:

Here's the one 5 x 7 that I made - very simple - This time I matted the patterned paper with card stock I found in my stash.  I also used that card stock to form the mat for the tag that I cut to hold the greeting (stamped with a HOTP stamp from their Tags & Trims set).  The ribbon is one of my crepe ribbons - I hate to use them because they're not easy to replace and I LOVE them.  I DID think it added to this card, though.

Inside:

Inside is more of the same - as with all of these cards, I expect to stamp a message on the inside of the card, but I ran out of mojo and wanted to get these posted!

Card #3:

This is the one slimline in this set that is vertical.  I usually make vertical cards, so it's a bit surprising that all but one is landscape - but I supposed it's because I felt the patterned paper forced the issue.  Anyway, as you can see, I didn't even ink the edges on this card front - wish I had. The ribbon is another crepe ribbon - love those ribbons!  The sentiment is a die cut from my stash.  It was white, but I used ink to color it before inking the edges in purple & stamping the sentiment (May May Made It - Your Faith is Showing).

Inside:

There's not much to the inside of this card - just leftover scraps used for borders.  I DID ink the edges, and will stamp a message when I get around to it.

Card #4:

This last one was not cut correctly, so I ended up having to cut and extend the paper.  The multi-ribbon border covers that.  It's hard to see in the picture, but the border is actually 3 ribbons stacked on top of each other - a wide purple, a green, and a silver.  The sentiment was already stamped, but I cut shaped the ends and inked it to get the color I wanted.  The flower & bird were leftovers from a previous project.

Inside:

Once again, the inside is pretty simple - an inked patterned paper strip border.

I really have been pleasantly surprised to see how pretty these cards turned out to be when I started with paper that I thought was "ugly". 😁