Operation: Use Some Scraps

I know that you have a stack of pieces of paper that you always think "It is too big to throw out, I will hang onto it" but then every time you start a new projects, out comes a shiny new piece of paper. I have challenged myself to use up some of those scraps because it is almost time to start on holiday cards, and I still am moving around scraps from last years creations! So today I am featuring cards based on scraps.

As you can imagine, many of the pieces on my desk are Close to My Heart, so I wanted to keep showing off the products. My cards feature the July Stamp of the Month (no longer available unfortunately, but I love it!!), some pieces of Hopscotch (a retired paper pack), and some Lollydoodle (from the first Expressions Catalog). As you can see, things on my desk are a hot mess but I guess the mess is part of my process... at least that is what I keep telling dear hubby!!

I saw a similar fold in a magazine, and loved the idea of using some scraps behind the folds to add some interest and to showcase both sides of our awesome papers. The cardstock is glacier, and I actually had some on my desk ready to go. I used some flamingo dots, shimmer trim and some pixie thick twine, then used 3d tape and some glossy accents to really make the ice cream cones shine. I pulled out the water colour pencils for the ice cream accents too, so blending pen fun!

Even with all this, I still think that my sentiment is my favorite part of this card. I used some sponges to make it rainbow, and huffed my breath on our inks to make them nice and juicy for stamping
 

Some new Challenges

So I have been blogstalking and checking out stamp sites and all sorts of things over the holidays. I have found some interesting challenges, and as my stamp collection is still a work in progress there have been a few I haven't been able to participate in, but have been added to the wishlist for later.

I have also found some sites that are ok with you using products that aren't their own. I am really enjoying http://sweetnsassystampers.ning.com/forum . They had a really fun release party with a blog hop on friday night and I have started working on their challenges. I will also be purchasing many of thenew sets that were released because they are gorgeous!!

The first was the technique challenge was to use the paper tole technique in which you stamp at least 3 images they cut 2 of them apart and layer sections of the origional image. The result is beautiful, but is seriously time consuming. I pulled out a stamp that I have had for at least 10 years for this one, and it was probably not the greatest choice. The cutting was insane! It can be seen below from both the front and the side so you can see the pop ups.

The second challenge I have done is their colour challenge using black, grey, white, pink and gray. I really am enjoying the new Bazzil embossed cardstock, it makes me smile. Again these are stamps that I have had for so long I am not even sure what brand they are, but if anyone is interested I will go find them again. I like the colour combination in this one and I hope that you like the way it turned out.

I did a little bit of water colour penciling on the stampted images now that I have gotten the technique down a little better, it took a little while but one can do it with a brush, you just want a small one. And you REALLY don't need much water. So I have found if I take the brush, dip it in the water, run it up the side to get the extra water off then blot it on a paper towel I get a much nicer effect than I had been previously. This will even work if you are using a regular cardstock and not watercolour paper, just for the record.

Thanks for looking.