Fast Card Friday

Along with bringing back the blog, I'm bringing back my old Fast Card Friday routine.  This card was also a part of the ribbon clearing I started this week as you can probably tell.  You also probably realize it is a part of my never-ending button purging.

I have come to realize that I have more buttons than I will ever know what to do with and so those will likely be next on the chopping block in my quest to purge a large portion of my stash.  They take up so much room in my craft area and I feel like I force myself to use them more than I genuinely desire to use them.  We'll see how it goes as parting can be such sweet sorrow.

Hoarder's Hump Day

This birthday card is more proof that I really love my monochromatic color schemes.  I've been trying to break out of them lately, but not today.

I designed the whole card around the pretty metallic blue floral paper that I just love.  It's almost all gone but I can't bear to through a good thing away.  (I understand that's probably 100% my hoarding talking but I can't help it).

I wasn't planning on doing the entire background in the splatter but I messed a small part and the only way to hide it was to keep going.  If I ever made the card again, I'd definitely stick with my original plan to leave more negative space and just try to be more careful.

That being said, I think the card turned out swell overall and I know the person I sent it to will appreciate it.

Identifiable elements:

• Ink- Bermuda Bay by Stampin' Up!
• Flower punch- Stampin' Up!
• Blue paper- Bermuda Bay by Stampin' Up!
• Splatter stamp- "Swirly Bird" set by Stampin' Up!
• Sentiment- "Create a Cupcake" set by Stampin' Up!

Out With the Old

I have decided to challenge myself to do some real work clearing out my old stash this month.  I'm looking to potentially relocate to another state and quite frankly, the ammount of craft items I'd have to haul with me is intimidating.  To do this I'm going to be doing double time 4 days a week.  Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays I will be featuring 2 Fast Cards and Wednesdays will have 2 Hoarder's Hump Day pages.  Each of these days I will try and use as many of the same elements for both projects to try and cull the herd.

I would say "new year, new me" but 1. I've always disliked that phrase and 2. I don't have any delusions that this purging of the stash will become a real habit.

Today's cards aren't as closely related as I hope to make moving forward but they were made from the same background card stock and both are birthday cards.  

Since I'm mostly purging my collection I won't have many elements that I can identify.  This is all about finally getting rid of the excess (and hopefully not purchasing much more).

Identifiable Elements:

• Green flowers - Burlap Daisies from the "Forever in Time Paper Craft Collection" by MultiCraft Imports Inc.
• Floral background paper - "I Love My Family" by Echo Park Paper Co.
• Blue washi tape - "Summer Party" collection by Echo Park Paper Co.

Fast Card Friday

Today's fast card is fast in that it doesn't take long to put the pieces together but it does take a bit of time to dry.  I still consider it fast because without drying time it only took me about 10 minutes to create.

This card was fun to make because I tried out something different with glitter glue.  I lumped a whole lot of streaks of glitter onto the white piece that I had stamped flowers on then unleashed my inner toddler and smeared it with my fingers to get them to mix together.

Finger painting is just as fun as an adult.

I got a little messy myself but I think the otherwise clean lines of the card balance out the visual interest of the glitter.

Unfortunately the blue and green glitter glues had no label as I won them from a contest many years back.

Identifiable Elements:

• Flower stamp- Secret Garden by Stampin' Up!
• Birthday stamp- Bring On the Cake by Stampin' Up!
• Ink- Basic Gray by Stampin' Up!
• Gold glitter- Glitter Glue by Studio G
• Green paper- Neutrals cradstock stack by DCWV
• Rhinestones- Adhesive Gems by Simply Creative

Cold Turkey #3

I've been getting really into fast and simple cards.  For instance, this one I literally made in less than ten minutes.  I found the quote and decided to make a card out of it, then realized I had less time before work than I initially thought (I misread the clock which tells you how early in the morning this was).  When I realized that I decided to make it a challenge for myself and I'm presently surprised with what I was able to pull together given the time limit.  Maybe sometime I'll make a video of myself doing this so you can see the papers flying.  It's really quite dramatic!  There are so many ways that this card could be spiced up but it's a tiny one and I kind of like the simplicity.  Plus it'd make an okay "boy card" and most of them won't hardly look at the front anyways if we're being honest...

(I also just noticed that I missed one Tuesday so I will be posting another tomorrow to make up for it, wish me luck!)

Fast Card Friday

This card wouldn't be nearly as fast except for the fact that all of the piece were pre-cut except for the sentiment.  I put it together to try and weed out some of my excess embellishments and what-not.  It's a fun birthday card and could even work for a younger girl than I'm used to sending cards to!  That being said, I could not get the black fringe to actually how up black in these photos but I'm sure you all get the gist...

Fast Card Friday

I really love how this card turned out.  Considering that none of the pieces came from the same kit (not even necessarily the same company), the papers really coordinate super well together!  I can't wait to send this birthday card out to someone.  Now I just need to restock on envelopes to fit...

Fast Card Friday

The part that took the longest on this Fast Card Friday card was poking the tiny holes out of the center of the pink circles!  The pink circles came from an old Paper Pumpkin kit and the stamps from Stampin' Up as well.  Other than the little pin holes, this was a fast birthday card to make and definitely one to keep in mind for when you need a last minute birthday card! Sidenote: the inside says "You" so don't worry, the greeting does make sense...

Fast Card Friday

Another Project Life piece was put to good use today!  I also managed to use this glitter foam heart from children's Valentine's Day kit that I had left over.  You might notice that it's where I got the glitter hearts for yesterday's Christmas card from as well.  I'm slowly clearing out my stash but I have been looking at some fun embellishments on Etsy lately so hopefully I can hold off at least through August.   Two months should give me some time to clear out even more of my hoard!

So Many Patterns

Today I woke up and thought about how I haven't done a contest for cards and not scrapbooking in what feels like forever so I checked out the latest Paper Girls Challenge and decided to do it.  I'm constantly saying on here that I'm just trying to use up my scraps which happened to be the challenge this week.  I used an extra gray card I had then threw on four different scrap papers from four different kits and companies that I only had tiny bits of left.  I really like how it looks and even though it's got some glitter, if I ever made this card again, I could just use not glittery embellishments and it'd make a great guy card.  I'm always keeping my open for guy cards since I definitely have more trouble making those.

Fast Card Friday

Another Project Life piece put to work!  I also managed to use this glittery foam heart that originally came from a little kid's Valentine's Day craft kit that I had left over.  You might notice that it's also where the glitter hearts from yesterday's Christmas card came from!  I'm making progress on clearing out my stash but I've been on Etsy looking at some more embellishments so hopefully I'll be strong enough to make it through at least August without buying anymore.  I think two months should give me enough time to do some serious damage to my hoard.

Fast and Cute

I continued my quest to use up some of my random pieces.  I used a couple of scrap papers I had then plopped a Project Life piece, a funky embellishment and some rhinestones down to make this quick birthday card.  I don't really care as much for the project life albums but some of the parts you can buy for them really do suit me. Now I just have to remember to actually send the birthday cards...

A Card For A Friend

I made a birthday card for one of my closest friends.  She doesn't read this blog so I have no fear posting it already!  I just really like it.  We both love cats so I think is puurrrrrfect.  Sorry for the bad play on words.  I couldn't resist!  I also used a lot of pieces from the Paper Pumpkin kits that I'm still digging through...

Too Many Kit Pieces

I like getting Paper Pumpkin kits mostly so that I can use the pieces in them for other projects than the ones they were intended for.  That being said though, as I'm preparing to move out of my apartment, I'm realizing how many kits I never even opened while school took over my life.  With that in mind I've decided to try and use as many of them and as much scrap paper as I can to help pair down my stash before I'm out of here.  I made a really quick birthday card to start off the marathon.

Quick Time

I found a card in my crafting room that I for some reason had stuck a sticker that said "Happy Birthday".  I have no idea what my original intentions were for this card, but I went ahead and completed it anyways.  I made it so ridiculously simple that it only took me about 10 minutes to assemble.  It's nice to know that if I ever need to quickly make a birthday card, I can.  I'm prepared for my inevitable future procrastination of birthday card making.

Pile Picking

I have quite the growing pile of various crafting supplies on my craft table and as disorganized as I am, even I am finding it difficult to work with.  I've begun digging out stuff to put away but of course that's no fun so I've started a new game with myself.  Every time I find a stamp set or embellishment calling my name in the pile I stop and make something with it (putting away everything once I'm done of course to keep the pile from growing).  This time I used a stamp set that had yet to be experimented with and made this super simple birthday card.  I challenged myself even more on accident by stamping it in a color that I had surprisingly little coordinating paper, buttons, or anything else really.  As always, a little glitter was definitely necessary.

Simplest of All Birthday Cards

Today I finished my first week of classes for my last semester and decided to celebrate with a little card making.  I found tiny scrap squares of paper that for some reason I had decided to keep and used those as the basis for this card.  It's really easy and requires next to no skill but I still think it's pretty cute!

New Glitter and Old Stash

I was awoken early this morning by my cat who is apparently still not used to being back at the apartment and unfortunately I could not get back to sleep.  Since I was up against my will I decided to make the best of it this morning and alternate cleaning and working on cards.  I managed to make these two cards out of scraps from kits and just my stash in general.  I noticed a bit ago that I didn't have many birthday cards on hand which explains my birthday kick. I also got to play with some glitter for the cherries card that was discovered when cleaning the "craft cabinet" back home.