Using Up Paper Scraps - What About Those Strips?

For this week's sketch challenge at Freshly Made Sketches I'm going to be looking at using up some of the scrap strips I have been hanging on to.  You know the ones you didn't get around to using on the inside of a card, or for other projects.  

Here's the sketch:

What do you do with all your left over strips of card stock when you finish making cards for the day?  I don't throw mine out, I simple store them in a tall glass by my trimmer.  My scrap strips vary in length and width, and usually range anywhere from a 1/4" to 1" wide.  Most of these strips are a minimum of 6" long sometimes a bit shorter.  I use these strips for decorating the inside of my cards and or stamping sentiments on. Having them out on my table where I can see them means they get used up and I'm not always cutting strips from my larger papers.  

For today's card I needed three short narrow strips of card stock in Highland Heather, Gorgeous Grape and Pool Party. It turns out I had all three colours in 1/2" x 5 1/2" strips and I only had to trim them down on the ends.  Made my day!  

Here's My Card Using The Strips & the Warm & Toasty Stamp Set:

I'm so happy with the way this design turned out.  It's a great sketch and came together very quickly.  

I started with an 8 12" x 5 1/2" piece of Highland Heather card stock and scored it at 4 1/4" for the card base. Next I added a 4" x 5 1/4" piece of Gorgeous Grape card stock, followed by a 5" x 3 3/4" piece of the beautiful Snowflake Splendor Designer Series Paper(dsp).  

I embossed the dsp with the Winter Snow Embossing Folder and sponged the edges with Highland Heather ink and a sponge dauber, before adhering it to the first layer.  Love it!  

The snowflakes in the Winter Snow EF are beautifully designed to give a soft background yet dense enough that you can see each beautiful design.   This embossing folder is featured in the Holiday Catalogue until January 4th, 2021. 

I can't say enough about the Snowflake Splendor dsp, it pairs beautifully with Balmy Blue, Coastal Cabana, Highland Heather, Misty Moonlight, Night of Navy, Pacific Point, Pool Party and Whisper White.   The piece I chose for my background coordinated really well with the Highland Heather, Gorgeous Grape and Pool Party card stocks I chose.  

I was able to shape the tops of these strips with my Lovely Labels Pick a Punch #152883. I used a sponge dauber and the corresponding inks to give each strip some definition and for fun I stamped the "just for you" sentiment from Warmy & Toasty on the ends of the strips. 

Create six unique labels using the Lovely Labels Pick a Punch. You get two designs in three widths--1" (2.5 cm), 3/4" (1.9 cm), and 1/2" (1.2 cm). Just cut a strip of paper to the desired width (any length), then slide it in, punch, and get a perfect label.  Item # 152883 in the Annual Catalogue.

I stamped the Polar Bear on a scrap of Whisper White and fussy cut out his image. Isn't he cute?  I really love his sweet little face and his cute little tush.

I coloured his scarf and toque with Highland Heather Light and Dark Stampin' Blends.  I drew a very thin line around the inside of the bear's image with a Light Smokey Slate Stampin' Blend.  His skates and nose were first coloured with a Dark Black Stampin' Blend and then I added some shine with Crystal Clear Nuvo Drops.

To provide a base for the polar bear, I cut out an oval using the Stitched Shapes dies from some old silver glimmer paper.   "Here's to a Cool Yule" was stamped in Gorgeous Grape ink on a scrap of Whisper White and then cut out using the tab die from the Tasteful Labels Die cuts. Some Basic Rhinestones were added to the tab and the three strips to give a little interest.  

For the inside of the card I cut a 4" x 5 14" layer of Gorgeous Grape followed by a 5" x 3 3/4" piece of Whisper White.  I added a small 1/4" strip of the DSP to the right of the Whisper White layer and stamped the sentiment "warm & toasty wishes to you" and a small snowflake in Gorgeous Grape.  

And that is my card for today.  I hope you liked it.  I'm working on a second one that will be in Coastal Cabana, Pool Party and Shaded Spruce, so come back tomorrow to see that version.  

HAPPY STAMPING!

PENNY TOKENS STAMPIN' SPOT 

Penny Hanuszak, Independent Stampin' Up! Demonstrator 

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WARM & TOASTY WISHES FOR YOU

Freshly Made Sketch challenge this week is by Narelle, who did a pretty good job of "throwing" this sketch together based on her computer icon.  Love the inspiration!  

Here's My Card:

My card features the tiny polar bear from the Warm & Toasty Stamp Set.  He is such an adorable little character I just couldn't resist.  But don't just think of this image as being a Christmas/winter image it can be usable all year round.  At the end of the post I'll show you a cute card I made to welcome baby using this sweet and versatile image.  

My card started with an 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" piece of Whisper White card stock that was scored at 4 1/4".  The first layer is a 5 1/4" x 4" piece of Night of Navy followed by a 5" x 3 3/4" piece of designer paper from the Feels Like Frost designer series pack. Stampin' Up! thankfully brought this beautiful winter themed 6 x 6 paper pack forward from last year's Holiday Catalogue.  The designs are so much fun to work with and I absolutely love the metallic designs on the reverse side.    

This is the exact paper I chose for my card background today.  I started off matching my Night of Navy card stock to the beautiful image but when I turned it over to add my glue, I stopped, stared and in that aha moment chose to showcase the metallic side of the paper.  So beautiful!

The bears were stamped in Momento Black ink on Whisper White card stock and then punched out with my 1 1/4" square punch. I coloured the bears with Stampin' Blends. Don't you think the little blush cheeks and toe pads are cute? I used the light powdered pink blend for those. The bear is outlined with the light smokey slate blend and it adds just enough of a shadowy light colour to bring him to life.

The Night of Navy squares that the bears are mounted on were cut with the 2nd smallest die cut in the Stitched Shapes squares.   The two background squares were just adhered with Tom Bow adhesive, but I added a double layer of Dimensionals to the lower part of the front square so it would pop it up enough to provide some dimension.  That seemed to work.  

And that's it for this fun FMS today.  Once I decided on my theme this card literally came together in minutes, which is what I want.  Another pro is that the card is flat and mail able, which is great at this time of year if mailing a lot of cards.  I also think this sketch would be usable for any theme and or season.  I like that so I'll be keeping this sketch in my "Using Up Scraps" idea bin.    

Before I go here is my Welcome Baby card using the Warm & Toasty stamp set.  What do you think?  Isn't she adorable?   I added a little bow at her neck with a baby pearl... so feminine.

For this baby card I began with an 8 1/2 x 5 1/2" base of Sahara Sand, scored at 4 1/4".  The first layer is a piece of designer paper from the Peony  Garden Designer Paper Series.  It features a nubby Petal Pink texture.  The second piece of designer series paper is from the In Good Taste packet and has a soft wool like appearance, so made me think of a super soft baby blanket. 

The sweet little sentiment "Hello Baby" is from the So Sentimental Stamp set.  I used the Tasteful Labels Dies to cut out the labels that I mounted the bears and sentiment on.  These small labels are perfect for grounding small images so they don't get lost in the background of a card.  

Thanks for dropping by today.  Hope you liked my cards.  Leave a comment and tell me which one is your favourite.  Appreciated.  

Happy Stamping!
Penny Tokens Stampin' Spot 

Penny Hanuszak, Independent Stampin' Up! Demonstrator 

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Having Fun With Curvy Celebrations

This week I'm so excited to share some of my creations made with the Curvy Christmas and Curvy Celebrations bundle which is now available for purchase. So let's get to it.

This was a great value bundle for me as it includes two stamp sets - Quite Curvy and Curvy Christmas along with matching dies and the Classic Christmas Designer Series Pack.  

Here are two of the cards I made using the Classic Christmas paper and the Curvy Christmas stamps and dies.  I'm in love with this paper pack which features Cherry Cobbler, Sahara Sand and Shaded Spruce papers.  

Both cards feature the same simple design. I began with an A2 card base measuring 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" and scored at 4 1/4". The first layer of card stock measures 5 1/4" x 4". On the Cherry Cobbler card I cut this layer from a sheet of the Designer Paper that I used in the block design. For the Shaded Spruce card I started with a Whisper White Card Base and added a layer of Shaded Spruce.

The next layer on both cards is a 5" x 3 3/4" piece of Whisper White that is embossed. For the Cherry Cobbler card I embossed with the Snowflake embossing folder and for the Shaded Spruce one I used the Lucky Stars (retired) embossing folder.  

For the layered squares I cut two contrasting pieces of DSP into four blocks (2 of each design) measuring. 1 1/4" x 1 1/4" . I backed them with a layer of 1 3/8" x 1 3/8" card stock, then attached them with Tom Bow adhesive.  

For the beautiful flowing Whisper White card strip I used the dotted curvy line die and cut a piece measuring 5 1/4" x 2".  I cut a strip of coloured card stock measuring 3/4" x 5 1/4" and glued this to the back of the white curvy strip leaving 1/8" visible from the front.  I stamped the sentiment "May Your Days Be Merry and Bright" from the Curvy Christmas stamp set.  This strip was centered on the card face and attached with Tom Bow glue.  A few basic rhinestones in coordinating colours were the finishing touch.  

The inside panels for both these cards were made with a 5 1/4" x 4" piece of Whisper White card stock.  I adhered a 1/2" x 4" piece of DSP that coordinated with the card front down the right side.  For the sentiment I stamped off one of the branches on a scrap of paper and then stamped it in the center of the card.  By stamping off first, you lighten the tone of the ink.  Next I stamped the "Merry Christmas" sentiment over the leaf.   

 

For the Shaded Spruce card I moved the DSP strip to the left side and I used a different leaf sprig.  

Well that's it for today folks, but I'll be back with more Christmas cards featuring the Curvy Christmas set.  I hope you liked these two and will incorporate this design into your projects.  It's a great way to use up your stash of designer paper, and quick and easy to do.  

Happy Stamping!

Penny Tokens Stampin' Spot

Penny Hanuszak Independent Stampin' Up! Demonstrator 

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