SERENDIPITY FALL

It's almost fall y'all! Did you realize that?

I have been super busy with studying lately. Overwhelmed actually. The other day I decided that I dearly deserved a break -- something of my Creative Therapy. Very much needed. What do I find incrediblyrelaxing -- and mind-numbing? Creating Serendipity Paper.

You see, I am a PACK RAT. You weren't aware of that personality trait of mine, eh? I save virtually every single piece of paper that comes off my paper trimmer, with very few exceptions. The thinner strips get put into a bin that I noticed the other was pretty much overflowing. That means it's time to create SERENDIPITY PAPER! This end product is the reason I save all these strips. 

Break time! I sat at my work table and sorted through all these strips, separating the "fall" colors into one pile, the blacks in another, the whites/creams into another, and finally, I had a small pile of strips of music.

My partial pile of autumn scraps can be seen in this Instagram post. It is just so exciting and enervating to get ready for a major project.

After I had this pile accumulated, I went through it again, this time shortening some of the pieces to better lengths, such as about five inches or less, tearing the ends. Some of the wider strips I tore in half. I love the juxtaposition of the straight edges in contrast to the torn edges. It gives the end result ever so much more personality.

The next step was to create my motherboard. I used a 9" x 12" sheet of nondescript card stock for my substrate. Using Tombow Multipurpose Glue (my favorite green glue!), I glued the strips hither and thither over the base piece. I didn't want these strips to go anywhere, and knowing that some areas would be somewhat bulky, I used this glue for security reasons. (I sound like I work for the government!)

To get from sorting, tearing, gluing down the strips, stamping and embossing took about three hours to come to this result: This piece only measures 8" x 9" though because at this point, I've already cut off four inches of it to use for creating.

Below is a close-up of what the hodgepodge mess looks like.

You can see that I did some embossing in copper and gold to give it extra sheen and interest.

I use my guillotine paper cutter to cut them into as close to 1" squares as I possibly can. Some of the areas are so thick due to the number of layers of paper that I worried about the health of my trimmer as I was trying to cut through them. Even though I was incredibly careful with my trimming, the squares were not perfect one inch squares every time. 

I love how, once the sheet is cut up, each little square is a perfect little work of art. 

So far, I have used 12 of the squares to create little pieces. Two of these pieces are pictured below. The third "piece" is a card that my Stamp-In Workshop girls will be creating in October for their own little commemoration of autumn. 

To see that third piece, you'll either have to come to my workshop on Monday, October 10 (I'll send you directions!) or wait until it finally shows up on my blog with a tutorial. Your choice. (The workshops always start at 12:30 p.m. CST.)

Anyway, this first one is mounted on Whisper White and layered over a square of the beautiful retired Mossy Meadow, finished by a thin border of black. This piece measures 3 1/4" x 3 1/4", just the perfect size to use on the front of a card.

This second one is mounted on a flecked piece of off-white cardstock, then onto a layer of (yum!) Blackberry Bliss, also, unfortunately, retired, then against black. I took this photo with the square lying in the sunlight, hoping to be able to show off a little of the metallic gleam from the elegant embossing.

Now, I will be waiting to hear from you that you will be at my October 10 workshop! 

Serendipity

Smiles.