Practising What I Preach.

In my recent 10 things post, Current Trends and the Noble art of Stash-Busting, one of my suggestions was to copy the techniques your favourite designers use, rather than the products.  In that post I was mainly focussing on paper off-cuts, but the same could be true for your older papers, letter stickers, ribbons . . . any supply in your stash you can lay your hand on, really!

So tell me, honestly, (as long as it's nice-honest), what does this page say to you? Does it say "current trends", or does it scream "old supplies"?

Actually, if you said "old supplies" that would be OK, because other than the white Thickers, the supplies are in fact pretty old!

But, unless I'm totally delusional, here's three reasons why this page at least whispers "current trends"

1. A fabulous sketch, of course! This one is from PageMaps: 

 2. Clustered embellishments:

3. A big title with a mix of fonts.

I'm also entering this page in the S J Crafts Monthly challenge with the theme of "Christmas" and the optional extra of "mix up the alphas". Thanks for dropping by!

Time to change blades (and a couple of pages for Lets Scrap)

 A trait that I inherited from my parents (nature or nurture? It could be either. Or both) is that I tend to be a bit frugal.  And usually, I think that's a good thing.  But more than once in the past, it's taken a friend to borrow my trimmer and comment that "when it cuts, it makes the paper all hairy" to force me to admit the obvious - it's time to change the blade on my trimmer!

Well this week, I didn't need a friend to tell me - the camera embellishments I was cutting on my Silhouette came out "all hairy".  Time for a new blade on my Silhouette?  I think so.  After trying to tidy them up with a blunt craft knife, I decided it was due for a new blade, too.  And my trimmer?  Wow, it cuts a lot smoother with a new blade!

Anyway, here's the weekly sketch at Lets Scrap I was working with:

and here's my page:

Next up is my page for their "Scrap Our Stash" challenge.  It's one of those "recipe"-type challenges with a list of products to use: 2 patterned papers, 4 pieces of cardstock, one piece of chipboard, 4 flowers, 3 eyelets or brads, 9 buttons, 2 lengths of ribbon and lots of bling! And don't forget to use a Lets Scrap Sketch!  Is it just the way my brain works or is that a hard challenge?  Mind you, I say that's hard, then add an additional restriction to myself: use my Purple People Eater Counterfeit Kit!

Here's the sketch I ended up using:

And here's my page - the photos are from the very early 90's when I had a little market stall and sold hand-made goods.  What I never took a photo of was the candles rolled out of sheets of beeswax.  Remember them?  Imagine them on a windy, summer day at Maitland markets - the dirt would blow onto them and get stuck, and then people would pick them up to take a look and leave finger marks in the soft wax. Ugh!

{Finally, I have to say "I wish I thought of that" about the comment I received recently saying that I should have named my Counterfeit Kit "Purple Paper Eater" instead of "Purple People Eater".  It is so true, because I have been eating up the kit so quickly that the papers I used on both these pages are actually from my off-cuts folder, not the original kit! }

Current trends and the noble art of Stash-busting. (Ten things on the Tenth)

Hello and welcome to my November contribution to Shimelle's "ten things on the tenth".  This month I wanted to focus on some different ways of using up those piles of paper off-cuts we all have lurking in our stash.

There are so many paper-crafting trends right now that are compatible with the noble art of stash-busting.  Before you pay top dollar on the latest embellishments, or purchase every latest release paper collection, consider these ten ideas to give your budget a break and your stash a bit of breathing room:

1. Banners, bunting, flags . . .
The more I like an individual patterned paper, the smaller the off-cut I'm willing to keep.  Sound familiar?  Recently I challenged myself to dig out some of those small pieces and make some bunting.  The only problem?  If I was going to use every piece of paper, I would probably have enough bunting to decorate my whole house, rather than just a scrapbook page or two!

2. Rosettes.
These guys are a great way to use off-cuts that you love the colour of more than the design.  Back here I discovered a way of using an argyle print that I wasn't too fond of, by turning it into a rosette.  And since  discovered a cut-file for my Silhouette for making them . . . rosette bliss!










3. Layered embellishments
When I first saw cute embellishments like these layered circles on this cute card by   Lynn Gahary it never occurred to me that they were a purchased embellishment.  Surely someone had just cut the same shape a few times and sewn down the middle!

4. Flowers
Flowers never really do out of style . . . do they?   I made this flower using my Silhouette, but even the oldest, most basic flower punches or of course hand-cut shapes come up a treat with a bit of layering and distressing!

5. Cut the whole sheet of die-cuts
In the past I've always been one to cut my die-cuts on a strict as-needed basis.  But that does produce some rather odd-shaped off-cuts that I end up storing!  So lately I've been experimenting with the idea of cutting the whole sheet.  My parameters: only basic shapes or shapes I tend to use often (think pinked circles, scalloped circles . . . and of course butterflies!) and secondly, I'm storing them in a fairly small container (it's a smallish Stampin Up stamp set box).  If or when that box fills up, I'll stop cutting until it empties out a bit.  So far, it's working great!

6. Copy the technique of your favourite designer, not the products they've used.
My stashbusters board on Pinterest contains many Pins which are actually pages by designers using the latest products.  How does that work?  Because when you try and showcase as many papers as possible on the one page, you probably haven't used too much of each one!  Think layering, think grids, think strips of paper at the top and bottom of the page and think off-cuts first!

7. Titles

I am absolutely in love with this page by Wilna (as I am with every single page of hers I've ever seen) and I totally recommend you watch the video at Studio Calico to learn how she made this cool, layered title, a technique I am dying to try.  But you know what, she cut into three brand new sheets of paper to make that title, and then misted over the top.  Can you tell? I reckon I could use some of my older stash and still feel like I'd achieved the same effect!

8. Welcome back vellum!
I don't even have to think off-cuts when it comes to vellum! I stocked up on so many sheets of the stuff, I don't like to think about it.  So I, for one, am very excited to see all the ways vellum is being used at the moment! On this page, I made a vellum banner and a pocket for my journalling cards.  I've also used vellum in my layering recently, and made vellum confetti pockets (both on this post), as well as making vellum feathers.  Although I haven't used them yet, I've cut some  vellum speech bubbles for my latest Counterfeit Kit.

9.  Project Life
I am so totally excited about starting a Project Life-style album next year. And the good news?  I'll hardly have to buy any supplies. I figure my off-cut stash plus my Silhouette plus my stamps is really all the supplies I need.  I already have a bunch of landscape-oriented photo protectors, so at the most I'll be buying some in other orientations, maybe some neutral cardstock and I'm good to go!

10. Mini notebooks, mini albums, mini anything!
By their very nature, nothing "mini" requires you to start with a full sheet of paper!  My mini notebooks (inspired by Elsie here) were a fun project using only the left-overs of my September Counterfeit Kit and some home-made die-cuts.

Could your bank balance do with a break from spending?  Could your stash benefit from a little busting?  I hope you're feeling a bit inspired! If you do manage some on-trend stash busting, I'd love to hear all about it!

Embracing my Inner Purple People Eater

Warning: the photos in this post are very . . . . purple!
 
The obvious place to start with my Counterfeit Kit this month was always going to be with older photos from when I was first married. Not that I'm opposed to mixing older products with recent photos.  But I definitely think older photos go with older products, especially in large doses! The following things also apply to our early married life: anything DIY, anything cheap and cheerful, anything bright, even to the point of clash.
Oh, and definitely purple.  You know how you might wash a load of whites?  Between the clothes from those cheap hippy-style clothes shops and the tie-dyed pants,  I used to do a load of purples!

It wasn't hard to find candidates for the Purple People Eater treatment.  The first page of my photo album, in fact:

I never claimed to be a kit-only scrapper, did I?  As well as using my kit. I've added the mini DIY letter stickers, doilies, mist, and buttons - and I think this was the first kit I didn't put a sheet of ledger paper in.  Well, it's got one now! 

And the next candidate?  Well, the next photos in the album, as a matter of fact! When I realised they were going to face each other in the scrapbook, I thought I should use some of the same elements, although I did add a few extra papers as well.

From early '90s to early 00's, and I wanted to have a go at  the latest challenge at Let's Scrap, to incorporate polaroid-style frames.  I chose the LHS of this sketch here:

. . .and used a cut file from the Silhouette on-line store with polaroid frames and the words "today, here, now".  At first it felt a bit weird to use  that phrase on a photo that's 11 years old, but decided to run with it anyway.

Now that I'm looking at this page on the screen, I'm thinking I might move that photo down a bit.  Otherwise, I've got to say I've had a lot of fun releasing my Inner Purple People Eater.! Thanks so much for dropping by.

November Counterfeit Kit: "Purple People Eater"

Welcome fellow Counterfeiters, and I hope you won't think I'm being entirely too cheeky when I reveal how I've *tweaked* the rules this month and dared to call it a Counterfeit Kit!
For anyone who might not know, at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge this month, the idea is to choose a favourite recent release paper collection of your choice and counterfeit that.  I, on the other hand, decided not to Counterfeit any one collection, but to Counterfeit the idea of a collection instead. 
First up, a quick history lesson:

Back in June last year, I delegated some of my older, uglier patterned papers to a "use it or lose it" box, otherwise known (to me anyway) as "paper purgatory".   I made myself a deal that I had until the end of the year to use those papers.  Anything not used or given away by that deadline would be recycled. 
So that was all fine and good, and I've been happily using a mix of older and newer papers ever since.  But just recently, I've noticed that there's another bunch of papers that narrowly missed the cull last time, still lurking at the bottom of my stash.  Time for another round of "use it or lose it", I say!

There they are, 17 sheets of paper that have been sitting in my stash for WAY TOO LONG! 

OK, history lesson over and back to the November Counterfeit Kit.  Have you thought about what colour seems to be absent in most of the paper collections at the moment?  (The ones that catch my eye, at any rate) And can you guess what colour I most want to put into my kit?  The title of my post might have been a tiny clue, so no prizes for the correct answer: Purple! And the idea of the CKC is using the stash, right?
So like I said, I decided to Counterfeit the idea of a collection.  What would you expect a collection to contain?  I'm thinking: a range of co-ordinating patterned paper, perhaps some cardstock, some lettering, some journalling spots and some embellishments.

Here it is, my November Counterfeit Kit, "Purple People Eater"

So first up, patterned paper:

 

See that spotty paper above the butterfly one?  That's the colour scheme I used to try and tie the whole kit together.  Back row of papers is all the old stuff.  Bottom row from L to R:  2 sheets October Afternoon "Woodland Park", one Basic Grey "Out of Print", one Teresa Collins, one Fancy Pants and finally the remainder of my Kaisercraft postcards paper.

Cardstock:

 
I don't always bother to add cardstock to my kits, but I couldn't very well call my kit "Purple People Eater" without digging into my (massive!) stocks of purple cardstock, or his friend green.

Lettering:

I decided that since I was having a bit of a clear out the stash kit, I might as well pull any Letter Stickers that went with the colour scheme.  I ended up pulling 4 different Basic Grey sheets, with varying degrees of use.

Journalling spots:

Here's a few shapes you might recognise from the recent collections.  Hello vellum being back in fashion! Another way to clean out the stash.  (I made sure when I cut the round shapes on my Silhouette that my round journalling spot stamp would fit inside.  Impressed?)

And lastly, embellishments:

I hope you're seeing a hint of 2012 in my vellum banner and vellum feathers (I might distress them a bit more before I use them).  Flowers never go completely out of fashion, do they?  These ones are made using two other sheets of the older paper.  Because I'm mainly focussing on older supplies this kit, I decided to get out a bunch of ribbons and fibres instead of washi and twine (but that doesn't mean I'm not promising to get them out later! *wink*)

P.S. Like in the song, I'm a little bit scared that my "Purple People Eater" will eat me up for breakfast!  At the same time, I'm hoping that by the end of the month, like the end of the song, it will turn out to be a cute, friendly creature after all!
P.P.S.  What about you, fellow Counterfeiters?  What inspired you this month?  I hope your kits are friendly creatures too!

October Counterfeit Kit Wrap-up

Getting my craft groove back (see this post), or indulging in a bit of slightly obsessive, self-absorbed life-avoidance? It's not time to call the men in white coats just yet, I don't think, but I am hoping for a bit more balance in my life over the coming weeks.
So, here's what I've been creating in my indulgance over the last few days:

 

Just in case anyone out there is interested, this page is, I think, the third that combines papers from Echo Park Everyday Eclectic and Basic Grey Konichiwa.  I couldn't guarantee these two lines would always match, but on the pages I did, I think they look awesome together!

As I was constructing this page, I realised I hadn't left enough room for the journalling (which I still haven't written - oops!).  I ended up sewing a vellum pocket, and linking two journalling cards with plain cardstock on the back.  This effectively gave me  3 cards worth of writing space, plus room for the lizard embellishment on the front.of one.

This next page was (I thought at the time) my "finishing off the kit" page, and I found this starting point of Shimelle's which I used by rotating 90 degrees:

Like I said, I thought that would be my last page using the kit, until I decided to have a go at the latest weekly sketch from Lets Scrap:

And here it is:

On this page, I used the "fairground" themed journalling cards to make 2 confetti boxes and a pocket for my journalling. There are two memorable moments that this page documents - one was the excitement when Rohan's team won the "encouragement award" and how they all just wanted to touch (and even kiss!) the trophy.  The other was how, in the line-up for the face painting, we were gently trying to encourage Angus to go for a boy-themed face, as we were worried he would be teased for having the rainbow.  He was determined, however, and I'm so glad he stood his ground.  He didn't get teased, and he looked spectacular!  

So all up, from my October kit, which consisted of 12 sheets of patterned paper plus offcuts, I managed to create 2 cards, 11 single pages and one double!  I call that a kit well used.  How did you go last month?

Masculine/feminine card challenge

One of the fun things about having a collection of goodies like a Counterfeit Kit, is making a couple of cards with the left-over bits at the end.  Challenge #3 at the Counterfeit Kit in October was to make two versions of the same card - a masculine and a feminine version.  Perfect!

I decided to play with this sketch from PageMaps:

Here they are:

That off-cut with the birthday words has been sitting in My CK two months in a row now, so I was happy to see it get some use!

Watch out for that chevron paper on 3 scrapbook pages when I publish my wrap-up post later on this weekend.

Thanks for stopping by!