Another KCC 14

For Mother's Day I got a set of 6x6 papers that weren't really my style.  I decided to start using them up by choosing the 6 I liked least and chopping them up as per KCC#14 (see Kendra's Card Challenge).  The result is once again proof that there are no ugly papers - even if they seem so at first!  In fact, there are three cards in this set where I deviated quite a bit from the sketch because I didn't want to cover up portions of the printed paper!!!

I forgot to take a picture of the "before" set of papers, but here's a picture of the the entire set of 15 cards completed using those six 6x6 papers (and stuff from my stash):

For most of these cards, I matted the pieces with black paper.  Where I did something else, I'll call it out as we look at each individually.  Most of them also utilize greetings from Sassy's LLC - and I'll also note where this is not the case.

Card #1:

Here the papers are matted as normal, but I inked the edges of the sentiment before double matting it - first with a dark cream before the standard black.  The flowers were from my stash - with scrap Dazzle sticker centers. The leaves were die cut using dies from two different Card Making Magic sets (A2 Card & Box Set and Ultimate Number Overlay).

Card #2:

I REALLY struggled with this sketch.  I turned the sketch upside down because I felt it would be too top heavy with these papers if I didn't.  I embossed and the card front using D'vine Swirl embossing folder from Cuttlebug, figuring that would help add interest to the background - but it probably added to the difficulty as it seemed to clash with many focals that I tried to add.  I finally found this dragonfly in my stash of Dazzles from HOTP.  I matted the body /wings with peach colored card stock from my stash to help it stand out better.  Then I double matted my greeting, using the same peach.

Card #3:

Next up is probably one of my favorite sketches from this set.  As you can see, I colored the flower on the sentiment piece with peach and then die cut a peach mat for it (Nellie's Multi-Frame Flower).  I added Jewel Dazzles in the upper left corner and in the center of the flower, and finished it off with a little ribbon bow.

Card #4:

This is another sketch that I particularly like.  This time I used silver line dazzles to create a bit of separation between each paper - and then matted the greeting with a mat that was die cut from silver metallic tag board.  Once again the die was from Nellie's Multi-Frame Flower.

Card #5:

This is probably my least favorite of this bunch of cards, but it's okay.  I found the tag in my stash & stamped the sentiment using a stamp from HOTP's Birthday Greetings stamp set.  The flowers were in my stash.  I inked the edges of them.  Finally, I added silver Line Dazzles on either side of the patterned paper strip and silver Jewel Dazzles at the center of the "flower" and the corners around the sentiment.

Card #6:

This card came together so beautifully.  The sketch called for additional strips from my stash.  I chose to use peach card stock, emboss it with Cuttlebug's Swiss Dots folder, and then lightly ink the raised portions.  I also used the peach for a mat (Nellie's Multi-Frame Flower again) behind the sentiment (with inked edges) before matting it on black.  Then I went looking through my stash and discovered this peach colored butterfly with gold dots (from the dollar store) and a couple of companion butterflies in the same colors.  They really set the card off beautifully.

Card #7:

This card is VERY different from the sketch, because the sketch called for a large square to cover the background - and I wanted the background image to show!  So, I took the strips that were intended to frame the square top and bottom and combined them as a mat for my strip sentiment.  I added another circle sentiment to the upper left corner and used the other two cut pieces there.

Card #8:

For this card, I found a label in my stash with colors that went beautifully.  After fussy cutting it, I matted it on a rectangle of black and then added my sentiment (inked it lightly so color would blend).  After adding the little angled strips that were part of this sketch, I went searching through my stash for something to add.  I found these pieces of a punched border (EK punch called Medallion Chain), and matted them with white card stock.

Card #9:

I often find sketches with a big blank square a bit intimidating (and KCC usually has at least one of these in a set).  In this case, I found a couple butterfly stickers in my stash and a printed sentiment from one of Debbi Moore's sets which helped pull the whole thing together.

Card #10:

I knew I wanted an embossed background for this, but it was amazing how challenging it was to find an embossing folder that would align okay with the pieces of patterned paper!  I ended up using this folder from a Gears Wheels Cogs Kit - Love Cardmaking Issue 5.  The folder is called Embossed Metal.  After adding my squares & sentiment, I went looking for die cuts in my stash - I found the heart & tore it to simulate a broken heart, and then found a little plant sprig to simulate hope.

Card #11:

Here I used my Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder on the card front & inked it lightly.  I added my patterned papers and strip of black, using a Thin Line Dazzle to separate the two patterns.  From there, I again deviated from the sketch because I didn't want to cover the flower with circles.  I just added two as you see here, and finished with a cream colored ribbon bow.

Card #12:

For a third time, I deviated from the sketch which called for a large circle in the center.  Since I didn't want to cover the flower, I left the circle off and found another place to put the remaining pieces - one of which turned into a mat for my sentiment.  I added a couple of flowers from my stash (inked the one to blend with the background colors) and finished it with a Jewel Dazzle center.

Card #13:

Here I chose a gray embossed "hand made" paper for the background - from a set I bought years ago at Costco.  This time I matted the pieces with a dark brown glimmer paper.  After placing the elements as per the sketch, I added a few flowers from my stash, adding Jewel Dazzle centers.

Card #14:

This time, I used a die cut panda as my focal (Elizabeth Crafts Panda die) and another fussy cut Debbi Moore sentiment.

Card #15:

My final card is very simple.  This time I again used the dark brown glimmer paper - for both the wide strip and the 3 decorative dots.  As you can see, I chose to simply ink the edges of my pieces rather than matting them.

Time for Tea?

I've had a Hunkydory Whopper Topper sheet from their Birds of the World collection sitting out for some time - finally got around to doing something with it.  It's pretty simple - embossed the background (Swiss Dots EF from Cuttlebug), inked it, added topper & sentiment.  I then attempted to trim the top corners to mimic the curves of the focal - didn't turn out as well as I had hoped.   It just looked weird because the entire top didn't mimic it.  Oh well . You win some you lose some.  It's still really pretty imagery even if that trimming was  a little weird.

Before and After

 

What you see above is one of the "after" pictures.  Here is the "before":

A message board I frequent had a scrapbooking challenge ahead of National Scrapbooking Day.  It was to create a page using the theme "before and after".  I thought of several possibilities but didn't like any of them for various reasons.  Then my Mom suggest that I could showcase materials BEFORE I made something, and then the results.  That sparked this idea.  I had recently seen some YouTube videos about using up your white scraps.  I have TONS of those (from making card blanks & focals & mats & such), and really liked some of the ideas I had seen.  I decided to see what I could make with those scraps.  

First, I took my scraps and colored them in various ways.  On some I used embossing ink and colored embossing powders. Others were painted with Opal Polish.  One I even covered with double sided adhesive and added gilding flakes (that one took me FOREVER!!!).  After all were dry, I picked three of them and stenciled over the top (more details on that later).  Finally, I saved some pieces and die cut others, and soon found themes emerging.  Most of the pieces used on the following cards come from this process - additional elements added are mentioned in the descriptions of each individual card below.

First, here's a picture of all eleven cards that I made from these materials:

And here's my scrapbook page about it:

With a closeup of each page:

And now here's a closer look at each of the cards.

Card #1:

This card started with the die cut flower pieces.  After gathering the flower/leaf bits (die cut with Spellbinders Fall Flora set) and gluing them together, I decided they would go great with the 2 pieces of deep lavender that I had (the color is a little off in the picture - the flowers that look blueish are actually lavender - though they show as blue in certain lights due to the opal effects).  I basically had two squares of the darker lavender - but one had a large circle cut out of it!  So, I decided to emboss that front layer, and sandwich the bottoms of the flowers between the two layers.  I felt the card was too plain if I just added it to a plain white card base, so I took a white piece of card which was a little smaller than the card front, embossed it (Leafy Vines by HOTP), and colored it with 3 different colors of ink before I finally got something I felt went okay with the flowers.  I found one of Sassy's strip greetings that went well with it, matted it on black, and popped it up on foam tape.  When I added the focal, I discovered the edges weren't straight (because I didn't get the two squares lined up properly) so I hid the discrepancies with some Border Dazzles from HOTP.

Next up is this panel.  I had three different pieces that had goldish tones - the light opal polish, the gold glitter strip, and the gilding flakes panel.  As you can see, I took the panel and embossed it.  I used an Embossed Metal folder that I got in a card making magazine - Gears Wheels Cogs Kit - Love Cardmaking Issue 5. I then took the 1/2" strip that had been embossed with a gold glitter & sliced it down the center creating narrow strips for each side of the panel.  The gears were created using dies from the same set.  As you can see, after I cut them from gold (opal polish) and silver (gilding flakes) I layered them.  The stamped sentiment was also from the same magazine set.  I simply inked an additional white scrap with antique linen ink, stamped it in black, cut it with a circle punch, then matted it with a circle punched from a black scrap of card stock.  After adding the sentiment, I added the gears.  Some of them were partially adhered directly and partially on foam tape because of the way the layers worked.  

Card #3:

This next card made use of a gold opal panel and a stencil (Music Notes from HOTP).  After stenciling it with black ink and drying it, I matted it on a scrap of black paper.  I found the perfect sentiment in JustRite's Musical Notes Labels Twenty stamp set.  I had learned my lesson with the stenciling and immediately embossed the sentiment with clear embossing powder since the ink takes so long to dry on top of the Opal Polish.  I used a Stampin-Up Label punch to notch the ends, then matted it on a small rectangular piece of black card stock - adding it to my card front with foam tape.  Finally, I added some of the small musical notations & notes die cuts that I cut from scraps of black card stock using Paper Discovery's Lost in Music Musical Panels die set.

Card #4:

Here we have one of my stenciled panels (Rosebuds stencil from HOTP) along side a plain panel that I embossed (Cuttlebug's Swiss Dots embossing folder).  The umbrella, boots, and raindrops were all stamped and die cut from Rainy Days stamp and die sets from Gemini.  The top main part of the umbrella and the boots were made using white card stock scraps colored with a Raspberry Sorbet Luster Polish, and the umbrella handle was cut from the piece made with gilding flakes.  The raindrops were cut from one of the Opal Polish covered scraps (I ran a Sharpie around the edges so they would stand out better against the background - and YES, I realized I got them upside down, so I'm going to go fix that - but probably won't post the fix).  Finally, I stamped the sentiment (again from the Rainy Days stamp set) on a scrap of white.  I didn't have any cutting dies that were the right size for this, so used one on both ends and then fussy cut the middle to blend.  I again finished this piece by running my Sharpie around the edges.  Assembly was simple - glued everything directly in place - no foam tape.

Card #5:

Here I had two two-inch strips that I had colored with this peachy colored Opal Polish.  I embossed one with a Spellbinders embossing folder called Carved Tile Slimline.  Then I cut the other in half lengthwise.  I cut a large mat from black paper - just a bit smaller than the card front.  Then I cut two narrow strips from the same black paper.  I glued each half panel in place on the sides on top of the black mat.  Then I added fun foam to the back of the embossed panel and added it down the middle.  Finally, I add my black strips on either side - simply gluing them in place.  I thought these two sentiment pieces (Sassy's again) went perfectly, and as you can see, I matted the one on a large black circle and the other on a small piece of black card stock (after cutting the ends with my label punch).  I had to add a couple of foam pieces beneath the right side of the strip sentiment since it hung off the center panel a bit.  A pretty peach bow completes this card front.

Card #6:

If I had known how this card was going to come together, I might have used a different stencil for the upper part that was more music related.  But I didn't, and I still like how it turned out.  The background consists of two panels covered with Raspberry Sorbet Luster Polish.  You can't tell it here, but it has a sparkly finish to it.  Over top of one panel, I stenciled with some silver ink.  The border was created from a strip covered with dark sparkly embossing powder - with a thin scrap of black paper above it.  The sentiment was just sitting on my desk - cut from black card stock using a Spellbinders die from the set called Joyous Celebrations Collection Sentiments.  The music notes were all die cut from scraps of black using the Paper Discovery die set called Music Panels - which is part of their Lost in Music set.

Card #7:

This one was rather fun - took some time, but I was surprised by how realistic the lilac looked when finished.  The background was simply created by gluing a bunch of 1/2" strips diagonally.  The strips are all ones that had been covered with Opal Polish - four different colors.  The lilac, made from a Spellbinders set of dies simply called Lilac, is composed of a base and leaves from the two green colors, and the flowers themselves from the two lavender colors.  The little ladybugs were die cut from some of the scraps of the Raspberry Sorbet covered card stock - and the black added with a fine Sharpie pen.  The sentiment is another of Sassy's, but I'm probably going to switch it out for something else for my Mom's birthday (when she's not looking)!

Card #8:

Here I had cut a bunch of little flowers, leaves, and a ladybug from various Spellbinders sets - mostly their Lilac and Adoring Fleurette Card Builder sets.  I started by embossing the front of the card blank with a Spellbinders M-Bossabilities folder called Nobility A2.  I had a scrap of peach Opal Polish covered card stock that I used across the top of the card where I wanted to put the focal. I also had a piece covered with gold opal polish that had had a circle cut out of it - which I stood on point as you can see.  What you can't see is that the hole was wider than the peach strip behind it, so the white showed through at the bottom.  I found a scrap of green the same as the leaves and covered the white with it behind the hole.  Now it's not apparent even though the leaves and flowers don't fully cover the area.  I needed something to set off the focal, so pulled a 1/2" wide scrap that was covered with the Raspberry Sorbet and sliced it in half to create more narrow strips with which I framed my focal.  The strip sentiment (another of Sassy's) was put in place on top of another narrow piece of that Raspberry Sorbet.

Card #9:

For this one, I embossed a white panel and added a bit of ink to it before adding the scraps - including the die cut ones.  Finally, I added one of Sassy's greetings with some foam tape.

Card #10:

As you can see, I used a variety of the pastel Opal Polish strips to form a diagonally striped background.  I had cut the little "clip" from the gilding flakes piece, so cut a piece of one of the 2" Opal Polished strips into a "clip board" shape.  After stamping my greeting (from JustRite's Cast All Your Cares stamp set) I embossed it with clear embossing powder before adding die cut flowers/leaves from the scraps and some butterflies from my stash.

Card #11:

By the time I got to this one, my prepared scraps were mostly gone.  I used them to cut a scalloped circle to mat the round greeting, and then thin border strips to mat the remaining strip greetings - all greetings were Sassy's.  I prepared a background by covering a piece of card stock with double-sided adhesive and then using a stencil to create a background from white and aqua glitter - stencil used was called All Over Swirls by HOTP.

So, there you have it.  11 cards and one scrapbook page - all made from scraps!