I Challenge You Wednesday: Use Your Scraps!

It's that time again - time for another Wednesday challenge. I picked the theme this time, and I was totally inspired by my growing mountain of scraps that was sitting smack in the middle of my work surface.

Just so you know - I'm not a neat crafter. When I'm done with a project, my room tends to look like a bomb went off in it. Depending on how inspired the project was, it could look like a pipe bomb ... or an atomic bomb. Fortunately for me, I am able to restore order when my inspiration takes a vacation, which it seems to do often enough that I can always get into my craft room and find what I need. :)

But those scraps were too big of a mountain to ignore any more, and I couldn't bear to throw them away. So I decided we needed to have this Wednesday challenge. I made six cards and got through the majority of it, but there is still a bunch of paper lace and a few paper scraps that didn't get used.

The first card I made was this simple one featuring a coloring reject:



I love the image (a freebie from Digital Two for Tuesday), but I really hated the dark brown that I colored her hair and shoes. It didn't look natural at all when I first did it, and I almost threw it away. But I've learned to save it and look at it another day, and I decided it was salvageable.

I mounted the image onto this paper scrap that I had made when I was experimenting with my (then) new MS PATP Iron Gate Fence border punch. [This punch is on clearance at Michaels for around $6 right now, in case you're interested.] To make it more interesting, I used the same Versamark and chalk effect with my SU! Script background stamp. In the back are scraps from a quilt stamp that I had only used partial cuts from.



I think this one is my favorite, mostly because of the colors. I love pink and yellow together, and I was surprised that the lavender didn't look bad with it, too. This is pretty self-explanatory. Everything was scraps I've had, some longer than others.

The rose image is a free image from Bird's Cards, the leaves are cast-offs from tearing apart silk flowers to use on my cards, and I liked the little rhinestone I added to decorate the key (cut from a recycled soda can).



Here's another rose card. Yes, I think this is one of my favorite stamps ever (from Bird's Cards), and I printed off a ton of them at once! :)

I used one of the corner punch medallions I had made ages ago, as well as an experiment I had done when I first received my Fleur de Lis embossing folder (embossed the paper, inked a fleur de lis stamp and stamped with a coordinating ink, then added pearls to the corners of the diamonds). Everything else on this card is scraps, too.



Another Bird's Cards rose, corner punch medallion, fleur de lis experiment, and other scraps mounted onto a large card (5.5 x 8.5").

And then there were two that aren't completely finished yet, but I'm going to share them anyway.



This first one is only lacking a sentiment. I'll add it when I know what I need it for. I'll be adding it via a strip of vellum, in case you're interested.



This was a real experiment, and I'm still not sure I achieved the effect I was after. The lace doily is supposed to be like a fish bowl. The fishy diecut was leftover from another project, and I added dew drops to be air bubbles. Leaf punchouts became aquarium plants, and miscellaneous colored dew drops became the pebbles in the bottom of the tank. I used a leftover diecut to form the top of the "counter" where it rests, and I scored and added clear embossing powder to the actual "counter" to give it a tile effect.

I'm not sure what kind of sentiment I could put on this one, but I thought it was a cute scene, if nothing else. It's certainly better than throwing away the supplies. Any thoughts on an occasion for this card, and a sentiment to go with it?

So there you have it ... six cards made from nothing but scraps, and I'm not tossing any of them. Yeah!

Now you really need to go see what my friend made for this challenge. She gave me a few hints, and it sounded pretty awesome!