SCRAPPY BIRTHDAY

I'm sure not too many of you reading this post right now are as nuts about saving every single little scrap of paper like I am. I have actually improved in my scrap hoarding tendency over the years, and I DO throw some paper away. Really. To show how difficult my situation was, when I first became a Demonstrator in 2005, my upline used to save all HER scraps for me. A sickness, I tell you.

Anyway, even after improving my stashy habits, I still have a lot of scrap saved to use on various projects. I simply love it when I can come up with some creation that takes a bite out of my scraps.

This one is especially delightful in that it really doesn't even take any planning. Yay! Randomness! 

I grabbed a mishmash selection of 12 strips of papers, both cardstock and Designer Series Papers. The strips needed to be no more than about 1/2" in width and no narrower than 1/4". I mean, I needed SOME cohesion.

I randomly placed the strips once I'd started with the green and white stripe. At any given time, I could change my direction, meeting up the strips in various places, so long as I retained about 1/8" white distance between the strips.

As the strips extended beyond the edge of my work area, I snipped them off and maybe used it again in another spot. A complete, but beautiful, mess.

I really liked the combination of colors and prints so much that I was hesitant to cover up just too much of it. So I finished off the card with a simple sentiment in order to retain the look of the mishmash.

Read on to see how to create a mishmash card of your own.

SUPPLIES:

Basic White cardstock

Black cardstock

Scraps of cardstock and DSP

Picture Perfect Birthday stamp set (unfortunately, retired)

Memento Tuxedo Black Ink

Die Cutting Machine

Seasonal Labels dies (page 18, Mini Catalog)

Silver Metallic Pearls (page 143, Annual Catalog)

Stampin' Dimensionals

Adhesive (I used the Green Glue)

DIRECTIONS:

Fold a 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" piece of Basic White cardstock in half, creasing it well with a bone folder.

Add to the card base a 4" x 5 1/4"  piece of black cardstock and set it aside.

The main portion of the card will be done of a piece of white cardstock that measures 3 3/4" x 5". Using a selection of a mixture of cardstock and Designer Series Paper strips, you will be building something of a quilt design. I started my card out with the green and white striped paper that goes from the top of the piece to about halfway down on the right side. 

From there I started building. You can see that my next add was the black strip perpendicular to the first strip. Always leave about 1/8" of the white showing between each strip. You can add the strips perpendicular, parallel, whichever way you fancy, changing it up whenever you wish. 

As the strips that hang over the edges dry, trim them off with the paper snips. You will probably use some of these snipped off strips elsewhere on the piece. At the edges where you have bits of white showing that are bigger than the 1/8", fit in tiny bits of previou strips. Have fun! This is a blast!

When your "quilt" is finished, add it to the black piece on the card base.

In black ink, stamp a sentiment onto a piece of white cardstock. Die cut it with one of the Seasonal Labels. Add this to a piece of black cardstock that measures about 1/8" larger all around the diecut piece.

With Stampin' Dimensionals, add the sentiment piece raised from the center over the quilt. Add three Silver Metallic Pearls to the sentiment label.

Isn't this cool?

I made sure I used black strips in a few places for something of a unifying factor. That's why I used black for the matting purposes.

Have you ever done anything whimsical like this? Not too much planning and thinking, just trying to keep your fingers as glue-free as possible. Pure fun. And totally unpredictable.

Scrappy 

Smiles.