Cards from 6x6" Paper Pads, part 2

JoAnn's had their individual papers on sale 10/$2 a week or so ago, and I went in specifically for these cut-apart papers. My particular JoAnn's store has a pathetic papercrafting section (one very tiny aisle), but I really like this paper. It was the only one I purchased.

I bought several sheets and then matched it up with some paper from my 6x6" paper pads at home:

These both came from Michaels.

I know several gardeners, so these seed packet-style greetings were too cute to pass up. I simply attached them to coordinating papers and used strips from scraps for some background interest. I really like how they turned out!

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These cards were so easy, but so satisfying to make. It was fun to pick papers and watch the cards come together!

Cards from 6x6" Paper Pads

After the recent "Lowest Prices of the Season" sales and 50%-off coupons at Michaels (my main local craft store), I am now the proud owner of several 6x6" paper pads. At $3 for 180 sheets, I can't complain if the paper is not cardstock-weight (which it isn't). I enjoy the variety and the scaled-down designs for cardmaking.

I decided to play around with them and make basic cards using a card sketch and a simple sentiment - no image stamps. Today I'll share the first round with you.

This first set was made with My Favorite Things Weekly Sketch Challenge #180. 

The adhesive pearls are from Dollar Tree. I was thrilled to find them, since they're one of my favorite card decorations.

I recently learned about how much difference it makes to mat card elements, and I really liked the difference it made on these cards!

I didn't really use a sketch for this second set. I just worked with the scraps from some of the recent cards I've made and played around with them until I liked the placement.

I'm a huge fan of patterned paper, and this type of card (that highlights the pretty paper) resonates with me. I've seen quite a few people use gorgeous patterned papers and then hide them behind other card or album elements. To me, that's a waste of beautiful paper. (To each her own. It's just how my mind works.)

I'll share some more cards from my 6x6" paper pads next week.

Do you have a favorite paper size to work with for cardmaking? I'd love to hear your reasons for loving your favorite size.

P.S. For the actual card bases, 8-1/2 x 11" cardstock can't be beat. And if I'm wanting a card front (4 x 5-1/4" for a slight border), I prefer 12x12", since I can get six card fronts with some scraps leftover.

Cards from Dollar Tree Stickers

It may or may not be obvious from my blog, but I love finding good deals at Dollar Tree. I've shopped there long enough to know that not everything in the store is a good deal, but they do have some amazing deals.

Lately, they've been outdoing themselves with their sticker selection. I've tried to be very selective with my purchases, and I still came home with ten sticker sheets last week because they were so perfect.

I'm not talking about cutesy stickers that look like they came out of a child's sticker collection. These are elegant stickers that look like they could have come from one of the big names in papercrafting (but for a whole lot more money).

The cards I'm going to share with you today were made from one of the sticker sheets I bought last week.

Both of these sticker sheets came from Dollar Tree. The sheet on the right is my most recent purchase. I had to have it as soon as I saw the bicycle.

I've had the mason jar stickers on the left for about a year. I only ever saw one sheet at my local stores, but I would have happily purchased a few sheets. They're very thick, rigid, almost-plastic-feeling stickers. I think they're made from something like epoxy.

Isn't the mason jar sticker absolutely perfect for the bouquet sticker from the second sheet?! And since the mason jar stickers are clear, they look that much more realistic. This is a simply-designed card, but I love it!

After my success with the first bouquet sticker, I decided to use another mason jar with the second bouquet sticker. Again, this is a simple card, but I love how it turned out.

And there's that bicycle that I just had to have. Just looking at this card makes me happy. I think the bright yellow has something to do with that. Not only is it a cheery color, it's becoming my favorite color.

This is the last card I made with the sticker sheet. I used OWH Sketch #155 as a guide for this one. I designed and cut the sentiment banner on my Silhouette Cameo.

I still have two sentiments left from the sticker sheet. They just didn't work on any of these cards, but I'm hanging onto them for a future project. I'm considering making 3x3" mini cards with them.

I still have ten mason jar stickers left. Yay!!

I hope you've enjoyed these cards. As I searched online for ideas to use these beautiful stickers I've been finding at Dollar Tree, I found a lot of "haul" videos when people purchased the stickers and drooled over them, but not many cards showcasing the stickers. Maybe I'll make a few more sets with different sticker sheets and share them here.

Have you collected any of the Dollar Tree stickers? I'd love to know if you've shared any cards that you've made with them, or even if you know of anyone else who has shared cards made with them.

How to Use An Entire Paper Pad Series: Part 7 Tags

We've reached the end of the series on using up an entire paper pad. I hope you've enjoyed it as much as I have. It's enabled me to look at my paper stash in a new light - as a "tool" to be used and enjoyed ... and then passed along in a form that others can enjoy, too.

Today I'm showing you what I made with the last few bits of leftovers - tags:

The very first thing I did was to cut down my larger scraps into a tag size that I liked - roughly 2-1/4 x 3-1/2". If it varied a little bit, that was fine. That happens sometimes when you're working with scraps.

After I cut all the tag bases that I could, I started playing with the smallest scraps that were left, positioning them this way and that until I liked what I saw.

I had several border strips left that I was able to cut apart to make focal point images for these tags - the Eiffel towers and ladies came from that type of strip.

I also added in some pink rhinestones to accent, although they obviously didn't come with the paper pad. I'll be adding in string for the tags when I go to use them, since I've found that I need varying lengths of string, depending on what I'm attaching them to.

I still have some very small scraps left, but I'm not pushing myself to use up every little bit if it doesn't look good to do so. I'm not quite that fanatical! :)

Want to see the rest of the series? Check them out at these links:

Part 1 - Introduction
Part 2 - Planning
Part 3 - Composition Notebook Journals
Part 4 - Traveler's Notebooks
Part 4 - Traveler's Notebook #2
Part 5A - Mini Album #1
Part 5B - Mini Album #2
Part 6 - Cards

How to Use An Entire Paper Pad Series: Part 6 Cards

We're winding down the series on using up an entire paper pad. I have one more post to go in the series. I hope you've enjoyed it as much as I have.

I used to enjoy hoarding my paper, but I've found that, at least in this season of my life, I enjoy working with and using up the beautiful paper I've bought. I think at least part of it is the reward of seeing that beautiful paper made into a project that someone else can enjoy, too. I think another part of it is giving myself permission to buy more paper once I've used up a whole pad ... not that I pass up a good deal if I have some paper pads on hand that haven't been used up!

Let's take a closer look at the cards I made with the leftovers.

I used some leftover border strips for the top cards, as well as leftover "background" papers.

The cut-aparts (on the bottom cards) were perfect for "girlfriend" cards. They didn't require much in the way of embellishing, so they were pretty straightforward.

I utilized some more border strips and leftover strips in these cards. I've left a spot for a sentiment on some of them so that I can add an appropriate sentiment when I need to use them. I like to have a few versatile cards like this on hand that can be appropriate for a wide variety of occasions, simply by adding a sentiment.

These last two cards used up some more strip-type scraps, as well as an Eiffel tower cut-apart. Once again, I left a blank space for a sentiment when I need to use them.

That's a total of 19 cards. Next up: tags with the scraps!

Want to see the rest of the series? Check them out at these links:


Part 1 - Introduction
Part 2 - Planning
Part 3 - Composition Notebook Journals
Part 4 - Traveler's Notebooks
Part 4 - Traveler's Notebook #2
Part 5A - Mini Album #1
Part 5B - Mini Album #2
Part 6 - Cards
Part 7 - Tags