Leftovers

I used to have a scrap envelope.  If you love making cards, you probably know what I mean.  It was a manila envelope stuffed with bits and pieces leftover from earlier projects, all too precious to throw away.  I always thought, "Some day I'll need this or that."

A couple of years ago, I graduated to a scrap drawer.  It had its own place of honor, sandwiched in between a drawer of stickers and another with my templates and cutting mats.   Small pieces--ovals cut and un-used, images I'd practised stamping, torn bits of paper perfect for masking--needed their own box befoe they got lost.

Suddenly my scrap drawer was threatening to overflow!  It wouldn't hold one more cutting--not one more piece for that "next card."

What's a cardmaker to do?

I decided it was time to put some of these gems to use.   I needed two cards (quickly, of course) and challenged myself to make them without cutting any new pieces.  No fair adding anything new to the scrap drawer!    Even the card bases I had already cut and scored before and simply not used.

My first was a sympathy card.   

 

 

The kraft card base I'd made for my cousin's birthday card and then rejected.  "Textured Blue" patterned paper was leftover from another sympathy card.  I simply stamped my favorite coneflower in Espresso ink from Memento, trimmed one edge of that piece with deckle scissors and edged that whole piece with a gold leafing pen.  The sentiment I wrote with a Chocolate Zig calligraphy pen.

Voila!  One card done.

 

The next card was for a First Hold Communion.  This was for a little boy, so although I couldn't use images of Bigfoot or aliens (his favorites!), neither could I use the typical delicate flowers.  I'd already made an earlier card for him using a cross, so this time I decided to go with the symbol of wheat.

 

I often have a couple of white cards already cut and scored lying around, and this was true that day.  I found a piece of textured light blue, trimmed all the edges with deckle scissors (What would I do without these?), scored two lines starting 1/4-inch in to give a little more interest, then stamped and heat embossed the wheat image with white embossing powder.  J.T. seemed pleased with all his cards yesterday.

 

Of course, as you might guess, I've barely made a dent in the scrap drawer.  There are still plenty of leftovers.  I'll have to do this again!

 

 

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