With a little planning, you can maximize your specialty paper using the zero-waste die cutting technique

 What is zero-waste die cutting?

With zero-waste die cutting you use all of the pieces from your die cuts, even the negative space and the "innies." It requires a little planning ahead because you need to think about how you will use both your initial die cut as well as the leftovers.

In this short video I show you a couple tricks I have learned along the way to make this technique a little easier, especially when using intricate dies.

Here are some more examples.

I used the left-overs from this beautiful blue holographic paper

To make this card.  I like this one better!

Is it a red poinsettia, or a poinsettia on red?  Notice how I switched up the greetings.

I used some leaf skeleton dies to cut these leaves from a master board and some green and brown cardstock.  I alternated the innies from each as inlays. I love how they turned out!

After cutting the leaves out, I didn't want to toss what was left of my master board, so I backed it with yellow cardstock and used some of the die cuts to stencil in the leaves with green chalk.

I hope this has inspired you to look at your die cuts in a different light!

What Makes You Different...

I'm really loving Spellbinders Cut in Fold in Tuck dies! The Star Dreams Etched Die* featured here is on sale right now too! After cutting the designs out, I like to ink the backs to accentuate the folds.

For this card, I started out with a 5" x 6.5" ivory card blank. I cut the large triangle from Bubble Gum cardstock* and inked the back with Sweet Berry Ink*.  I mounted it on Raspberry Berry cardstock.  The small center motif was cut from Sweet Berry cardstock* and inked with Rasbpberry Berry ink*.

I used the Artomology Fair Feathers Eched Dies* to cut the feathers from Hucleberry Fusion* and Lemon Drop cardstock*. The sentiments are from the Artful Affirmations stamp set by Hot Off The Press.  I stamped them with Huckleberry Fusion ink* and fussy-cut around them.  The card background is from an older Colorbok collection called Neutral Basics. I popped the sentiment and the center motif up on Journey Foam Squares.

That's all there is to it! What do you think?

*If you use my links to purchase any of these products, I will receive a small commission at no additional cost to you.

Tales From the Junk Bin

Raise your hand if you have a collection of mismatched embellishments, die cuts, labels, tags and other leftovers from the projects you've been working on.  I'm guessing I'm not the only one. I used to stick them in containers and they'd eventually migrate to a drawer or a shelf somewhere.  Recently, I decided that it might be a better idea to keep them in a tin on my work table.  This is my current (but not only) junk bin.

Today as I was trying to figure out what to work on next, I decided to rummage through the junk bin for some inspiration.  Here's what I pulled out.

Kind of a mismatched bunch, but I was determined to make something from them. The turquoise medallion and the feather* were made with dies I got from a recent order from Spellbinders.  I was just trying out the dies and didn't have anything in mind when I made them, but once I was done, I couldn't just throw them away.  The butterfly is from the Small Things stamp set* and is a leftover from a prior project. The background is from a pile of backgrounds I discovered yesterday when I was clearing out some of my old stash.

I chose 018, 015, 025 and 027 from my Journey Color Burst Pencils* that matched the colors in the medallion and feather to color the butterfly. I thought it needed a little red when I got done so I also did a little blending with some 02.

I'll admit the butterfly came out a bit more colorful than I intended, but I think it goes with the rest of the card.  I thought the medallion didn't quite pop enough by itself so I dug through my box a little more and found a circle I had cut from Summer Days cardstock* with the Journey Circles die set* and put that behind it.

 I lightly inked the edge of the background with Turbo Teal ink*. I also added some trim behind the background, you can see it peeking out on either side. I popped the butterfly and the sentiment up on Journey Foam Squares, then splattered it all with Sparkle silk and Cool Pool silk.  Not bad for a card from the junk bin.

How about you?  What's in your junk bin? 

*This post contains affiliate links. At no additional cost to you, I may be paid a small commission if you purchase items using these links - see my disclosure for details.

OSW 5 & 6 Hugs and Sunshine

Here are two more cards in my series on Jessica Taylor's One Sheet Wonder template which can be found here:  https://www.inkitupwithjessica.com/how-to-make-one-sheet-wonder-cards/

These One Sheet Wonders really are helping me get my crafty mojo back.  They're also helping me find ways to reduce the pile of handmade backgrounds I've been accumulating.  Today's cards are simple and quick. Both use the 3" x 4" piece of patterned paper along with a background I made using shaving cream and Liquid Color.  I'm not certain which colors I used, but since I'm guessing, I'm going to say Lemon Drop and Lovely Blue.

When I was cleaning my craft room last week, I found some 4" x 5 1/2" card blanks by Recollections that I bought several years ago, so I decided to use those.

I started my fifth card in this series by adhering the patterned paper to the bottom of a card base, then I cut a 2 1/2" x 4" panel from my handmade background and glued it to the top. I added a strip of washi tape between the two for a border.  I used the Heart Felt die set to cut the large heart from Rich Coral cardstock and the small heart from Peaches and Cream cardstock  I then used a sponge dauber to shade the small heart with Rich Coral ink. That had the effect I had hoped it would and the small heart now matches the washi hearts fairly well.  I shaded the outer edge of the large heart with Raspberry Berry ink. The sentiment, which I stamped with Black Licorice ink is from the Inside & Out stamp set. I popped the small stamped heart up on foam squares and centered it on the large heart, then adhered the large heart to the front of the card.  I thought the bottom of the card needed something so I added a couple little heart jewels. They are from the Fire & Ice set from Fun Stampers Journey which has been discontinued.

My sixth card started in the same way, with the patterned paper on the bottom and another panel from the same background on the top. I used Black Jewel Border Dazzles from Paper Wishes for the border between the two panels.  I used the My Sunshine die set to cut the sun center from Pineapple Smoothie cardstock and the outer part of the sun from Summer Days cardstock. I inked the edges of the sun's center with Lemon Drop ink. I then popped it up on foam squares and adhered it to the sun outline.

I made the small banner using a 1" x 2 3/4" scrap of Pineapple Smoothie cardstock. The sentiment is also from the Inside & Out stamp set and is stamped with Black Licorice ink. That set is becoming one of my favorites. I matted the tag on a 1 1/4" x 3" piece of Limeade Splash cardstock. I adhered it to the front of the card, slightly below the border. I popped the sun up on foam squares and added it so the bottom just overlaps the banner. To finish it off I added a splattering of Sour Lemon Silk.

Some Bunny Loves You

I have two cards for you today.  Both of them were made with the bunny stamp from the Valentine Pals stamp set.*  I also used my photo paper backgrounds for both cards. You can read more about that technique HERE..

For the first card, I used the Decorative Hearts die set* and cut the largest heart from Bubble Gum and Sweet Berry cardstock. I also cut a smaller heart from Journey Vellum using one of the hearts from the Heart-Felt die set* and stamped, "Some bunny love you" with Black Licorice ink*.  Ink that has been stamped on vellum takes quite a bit longer to dry, so you may want to heat set it.  After it's dry, tuck the bottom of the small heart under the design in the large heart and use a couple small spots of glue behind the lettering to secure it in place.

I stamped the bunnies for both cards on Whip Cream Card Stock * and colored them very lightly with Spectrum Noir alcohol ink pens.  for each bunny, I stamped the balloons a couple times on one of my pink photo paper backgrounds, cut out the center balloon and layered it over the others using foam tape.

The green strip across the bottom of the card is the leftover piece of a watercolor background I created some time ago.  I finished it off with a triple bow made from Silver Journey Thread.*

The next card is even easier.

I cut the hearts from Whip Cream* and Candy Apple* cardstock using the Heart-Felt die set.*

I cut a 1.25" x 4" strip from Rock Candy cardstock.  It's a little hard to see, but I stamped the small heart from the Valentine Pals stamp set* on it repeatedly using Candy Apple ink.*

Before securing the background to the card base, I tied a pink organza ribbon around it.  I finished it all off with a sprinkling of Pink World sequins.

* denotes an affiliate link. I may be paid a small commission if you purchase items using these links - see my disclosure for details.

I Wuff You

Oh my! What a cute puppy. This is another stamp from the Valentine Pals stamp set*. Don't you just love him? I started by stamping him on  Whip Cream* cardstock with Black Licorice True Color Fusion ink*. Next, I colored him with Spectrum Noir alcohol ink markers (TN1, TN2, TN3, PP1 and BP2).  One of the things I really like about the FSJ Fusion inks is that you can color them with just about any medium without having to worry about the ink smearing.

Do you like that background?  I made it with Liquid Color*, coffee filters and photo paper.  It's a really fun (and messy) technique.  I made a video tutorial a few months ago. You can watch it here: https://youtu.be/_pn8k-3zpgo

I used the Decorative Hearts die set* to cut the heart from Whip Cream* and Bubble Gum* cardstock.  The 1.5" x 4" floral paper strip is from the Follow Your Heart Prints paper pack*.
Next, I added some pink organza ribbon and a tag and finished it off with some Pink World sequins*. It was really fairly quick and simple and oh so cute!

* denotes an affiliate link. I may be paid a small commission if you purchase items using these links - see my disclosure for details.

Mice to Know You!

Valentine's day is coming soon and here is an adorable card you can make for a friend or loved one.

Isn't that little mouse cute?  It's part of a set of four critters from the Valentine Pals stamp set* from Fun Stamper's Journey.  If you don't like fussy cutting there's also a matching die set.*

Construction:

 I started with a Sweet Berry* card base and added a background I made several months ago using Liquid Color and photo paper.  You can read more about that technique HERE..

Next, I cut a 1.25" x 4" border strip from a sheet out of the Follow Your Heart Prints paper pack* and adhered that about 1/2" up from the bottom of the card.  I positioned the small striped strip from Deco Strips - Black Sticker Strips* about 1/4" down from the top of the gray border.

Then, I used the medium sized heart from the Decorative Hearts die set* to cut a heart from Bubble Gum cardstock* and a background from Whip Cream cardstock*.  Then, starting from the outer edges, I inked each of them with Sweet Berry true color fusion ink* so that the outer edges are darker than the centers.  Once that was done, I adhered the two pieces together and adhered them, slightly tilted, to the left side of the card.

I stamped the mouse onto Whip Cream cardstock* and colored it with Spectrum Noir alcohol ink markers: IG1, IG2, FS5, and BP2. After coloring it I used the die from the the matching die set* and popped it up on medium foam squares* on the right side of the heart.

I used the smallest heart from the Heart Felt die set* to cut a heart from Rustic Rose cardstock* and stamped "Mice to know you" from the Valentine Pals stamp set*. I popped that up on medium foam squares* just above and to the right of the large heart.

Joy to the World

THIS POST MAY CONTAIN AFFILIATE LINKS. PLEASE READ MY DISCLOSURE FOR MORE INFO.

Christmas is coming! If you haven't started your Christmas Cards yet, now is the time. Here's a card I made based on a sketch from the Joruney Sketches Facebook group I'm in. All of the products I used for this card are listed at the bottom of this post and are available from my Fun Stampers Journey site at https://funstampersjourney.com/judyheadrick.

Instructions:

• Make the card blank from a 8.5" x 5.5" piece of Raspberry Berry cardstock.
• Emobss a 4" x 5.25" piece of Pool Play cardstock using the Brocade Imprints embossing folder. Ink the embossed background with Huckleberry Fusion ink.
• Adhere the embossed panel to the card base.
• Cut a 3/4" x 1" rectangle from Whip Cream cardstock.
• Using the sparkle tape from the Candy Apple Tape set, add diagonal lines to the Whip Cream rectangle.
• Use the Poinsettia Burst stamp set to stamp three boughs and one set of holly leaves on Lemon Grass cardstock with Kiwi Slice ink.  Cut them out with the Poinsettia Burst Die set or fussy cut them if you don't have the set.
• Stamp the large doily from the Decorative Doily stamp set onto Gold Mirror cardstock with Clear Pigment ink.  Emboss it with white Journey White embossing powder. Cut it out with the second to smallest Journey Circle.
• Stamp the small doily from the Decorative Doily stamp set onto Silver Mirror cardstock with Clear Pigment Ink. Emboss it with Journey Black embossing powder. Cut it out with the smallest Journey Circle.
• Free-hand cut the large candle frame from Summer Days cardstock. Cut the small inner frame from a gold Bloom Fetti circle.  Glue the small flame to the large flame as shown.
• Create a mask for the "Joy to the World" stamp and use a stamp press (Misti or similar) to stamp onto Whip Cream cardstock with Cranberry Bliss and Kiwi Slice ink. Use the correspoinding die set to cut it out (or fussy cut by hand).
• Adhere the fir boughs to the bottom left area of the card as shown.
• Pop up the candle, flame, holly leaves and large ornament on Journey foam squares and attach them over the fir boughs.
• Pop up the small ornament on Small Journey foam Squares, making a double layer of foam where the small ornament hangs off the edge of the large ornament.
• Pop up the "Joy to the World" sentiment on Foam squares and attach it to the card as shown.
• Add holly berries to the holly.
• Add Fashion Silver and Gold dots to the ornaments.
• Add Journey glaze to the white stripes on the candle, the holly leaves, the candle flame and the words.

Materials List

Cardstock

• Lemon Grass Cardstock *
• Whip Cream card stock *
• Pool Play Cardstock *
• Raspberry Berry Cardstock * 
• Summer Days Cardstock *
• Silver Mirror Cardstock *
• Gold Mirror Cardstock *

Adhesives

• Journey Glaze *
• Journey Foam Squares - Medium *
• Journey Foam Squares - Small *
• White Liner *

Ink Pads

• Cranberry Bliss Ink Pad *
• Kiwi Slice ink Pad *
• Huckleberry Fusion Ink Pad *
• Clear Pigment Ink Pad *

Embossing Powder

• Journey Black Embossing Powder *
• Journey White Embossing Powder *

Embellishments

• Candy Apple Washi Tape *
• Berries and Holly Self Adhesive Gems *
• Fashion Gold Embellishments *
• Fashion Silver Embellishments *

Stamp/Die sets

• Merry Words Stamp Set *
• Merry Words Die Set *
• Poinsettia Burst Stamp Set *
• Poinsettia Burst Die Set *
• Decorative Doily Stamp Set *
• Journey Circles die set *

Bloom Benefits:

• Bloom Fetti
• Brocade Imprints Embossing Folder

* denotes an affiliate link - see my disclosure for details.

Chocolate Dipped Artful Card Kit

While cleaning the other day, I came across what was left of an Artful Card Kit I bought a couple years ago.  I had already made several cards from it but there was still quite a bit of paper and lots of embellishments left, so I decided to finish it off.

The first card I made was for my Sister-in-law’s birthday.  It’s a double slider.  It looks complicated, but is very easy to make.  I got the instructions from Teresa’s Amazing Folded Cards CD from Paper Wishes.

Pull the ribbon and both ends pop out.

Other items used:

• Paper Artist 6 Layered Labels & 2 Swirls Cutting Die set
• Paper Artist 10 Tags & Trims cutting die set
• Birthday Cheer stamp set
• Birthday Greetings stamp set

The slider mechanism is made using a strip of plastic from a plastic bag.  I liked this technique so much that I used it again to make a get well card only this time I made it vertical.

         

Other items used:

• Paper Artist 6 Layered Labels & 2 Swirls Cutting Die set
• Paper Artist 10 Tags & Trims cutting die set
• Paper Artist Lacy Border cutting die set
• Paper Artist Flower Frenzy cutting die set
• Teal Jewel Butterflies Dazzles
• Teal Jewel Dazzles
• Teal Jewel Border Dazzles

The next card is a Pop-up slider.  The picture is from one of our trips to Klamath Falls.  I think it’s either a house finch or a purple finch.  They are really hard to tell apart.  I love taking pictures of birds and other wildlife and am always trying to find ways to incorporate them in my cards.

When you pull the tab at the top, the picture pops up and reveals a message.

 

I should have made the card a little bigger because when the picture pops up, it hides the greeting on the pull-tab.

Other items used:

• Paper Artist 6 Layered Labels & 2 Swirls Cutting Die set
• Teal Jewel Border Dazzles
• Gold Tiny Words Dazzles
• Gold Heart Pearl Jewel Dazzles

The next two cards are cut away cards (the front is narrower than the width of the card).   I finished the insides as well.

I made a get well card.

   

Other items used:

• Red Jewel Border Dazzles
• Foam squares
• Heartfelt Greetings stamp set (HOTP)
• Tiny Tags, Little Labels & Greetings stamp set (HOTP)

and a friendship card.

   

And the final card is a birthday card.

 

Other items used:

• Red Banner Greetings Dazzles
• Red Jewel Dazzles
• Gold Tiny Words & Phrases Dazzles

All that from an already used Artful Card kit!

I Hope I’m not Bugging You!

I’m always looking for ways to use my photos on cards, so when we had a swap at Just Cards with a bug theme, I jumped at the opportunity.

I turned the dragonfly picture into 3D paper tole and it turned out really nice.  Just about everything on this card besides the photo is from Paper Wishes:

• Viney Swirl cutting die
• Flower Frenzy Cutting die
• Layered Labels Template
• Dazzles
• Emerald Glimmer Paper
• Papers from Personal Shopper Kits

Wax Paper Resist With Embossing Folders

I made the purple background for this card using a wax paper resist technique.  It’s a fun technique and is super easy to do.  You will need an iron, an ink pad, a die cutting/embossing machine (or a rolling pin), an embossing folder with an all-over pattern like the butterfly and flower pattern I used for this card.

Emboss the wax paper, then sandwich it between two sheets of glossy cardstock.  Put a sheet of copy paper over the top and iron with a hot iron (no steam).  Once that’s done ink the glossy paper and the pattern will appear.  By sandwiching the wax paper between the glossy card stock, you get two for one.  One piece will be the positive of the embossing folder and the other will be the negative.

After I made the resist background I cut it into suares  and mounted them in a grid pattern leaving 1/8” between the squares.  I made the flowers using the Wildflowers cutting die from Hot Off The Press.

Hinged Card

We recently had a hinged card swap on the Just Cards Forum.  I wasn’t able to join in at the time, but I really like the look so I saved the instructions for later.  Here’s my interpretation:

Made with:

• Water Lily photo
• Sew Cute paper pack and labels
• Tiara border punch
• Butterflies stamp set
• Flower Frenzy stamp set
• Blush ink pad (Memories)
• 12 Flower Frenzy cutting die
• 8 Circles and Scallops cutting die
• Wisdom Owls Dazzles (border)
• Mix ‘Em Cupcake Dazzles (border)
• Pink Jewel Dazzles
• Mini flower brad (Making Memories)

If you’d like to make one, you can find an excellent tutorial by Wendy Weixler on her Wickedly Wonderful Creations site

Kit Swap!

I joined a Kit swap at the Paper Wishes forum this month.  If you’ve never joined one, you should.  They are a lot of fun.  Basically, each person builds two identical kits following a recipe, makes a card from one of the kits and sends the second kit to their partner.  Neither person posts pictures until both have finished making their cards.  It’s a lot of fun to see how different or similar the results are.

The kit I received had papers and die cuts from Emma’s Garden.  The really nice thing about the papers is that they’re double sided so I had six patterns to choose from (I chose all six!).

Here’s what I made with it.

 

I haven’t decided what to stamp on the inside yet, so the banner is still blank.

I cut the flowers and leaves using the 12 Flower Frenzy die set and I used Design Tool Kit #6 for the front card flap and the background on the inside.

The kit I sent to my partner included one of my photos and papers from several Personal Shopper kits.  Here’s the card I made with it.

 

Items used:

• Sparkle gold twine (Maya Rd.)
• Greeting from Card Greetings & Sentiments CD
• Tan Swirly Flowers paper
• Blue paper from February 2014 Dazzles PS Kit (you can get the paper without the printed border in the Ooh La La Artful Card kit.)
• Green paper from a Dazzles kit (I'm sure this is probably available in a paper pack, but I can't figure out which one)
• Feathers Dazzles
• Gold Jewel Border Dazzles
• Flower embellishment made with:

• Ecru card stock
• Flower Frenzy die
• Ranger Tea Dye Distress Ink
• Blue stickles

Check out the January Kit Swap at Paper Wishes to see what my partners made.

Using Photos on Cards

I’ve been in a creativity slump for about a year.  Endless hours sitting at my craft desk pushing papers around and finding no inspiration made me wonder if I would ever be able to create again.  Now I’m finally emerging from the fog and I’ve found that my style has shifted just a bit.  I think it has improved so perhaps I needed the break. 

One piece of creativity that I did manage to hang on to during those long months was my love for photography.  I especially like photographing winged things, be they birds or insects.  Several people have expressed an appreciation for my photos, so I decided to try incorporating them into my cards.

This is one of the first cards I made this year.  I created it for one of the people who helped me find my way back out of the fog.

For this card I used:

• 10 Tiny Things Plus Shadows Cutting Dies
• Unforgettable Double-Sided Paper Pack (teal background)
• Heritage Paper Pack (brown borders)
• Grapefruit Double Sided Paper Pack (orange butterfly backgrounds)
• Gold Thin Lines Dazzles
• Nestabilities Large Labels die set

My second card is from a recent trip to Discovery Bay, Washington.  There were quite a few ducks hanging around the dock and this Surf Scooter ventured the closest.  He’s a very goofy looking bird, but I just love the reflection in the water.  I chose a background that closely matched the color of the water to extend the look of the water from the photo onto the card.  I also wanted a natural looking wood frame, so I chose Paper Wishes’ Barnwood paper and popped it up on a few layers of card stock.  I mitered the corners to complete the wooden frame look.

I used the Wildflowers cutting die to cut an orange and a green layer for the flowers and pieced the two together.  I did the same with the dragonfly using green and brown scrapbook paper.  The torn edge of the tan paper from Natures watercolors gives the illusion of a shoreline.

Items Used:

• Pale blue paper (background)
• Barnwood Paper (frame)
• Nature’s Watercolors Paper Pack (tan foreground)
• Wildflowers Cutting die
• Batik Ditigal Paper Pack  (dragonfly wings and body)
• Roses in Harmony paper pack (green dot paper)
• Spooky! Halloween Papers (oragne flowers)
• Gold Tiny Words & Phrases Dazzles

Ombre Tea Tin

I enjoy drinking tea and usually have several types of loose tea on hand.  A few months ago, I found some loose tea at Grocery Outlet in a 3 tier tin.  I was far more interested in the tin than the contents and the price was right (I think it was around $3.00).  The tea was awful as expected, but I have 3 more tins for less than the price I would have paid for one at some of those fancy tea shops.  Today, I decided that I wanted to give the tin a face lift, so off to the craft room I went.  As I was sorting through my paper, I spotted a 12x12 sheet of Color Me Gold Flourish paper from PaperWishes and knew in an instant what I wanted to do with it.  I’ve been seeing  a lot of items using the ombre graduated coloring technique and the challenge at PaperWishes this week is to make something with that technique.  Next I needed to decide what medium to use and I settled on my metallic cream chalk set.  I cut a piece of paper 7.5” x 12” and started coloring.  The process took a while, but it’s fun to watch the colors blend together and I really like the end result.

 

I made the labels using the 6 Layered Labels and 2 Swirls cutting die set from PaperWishes.  I cut the large labels from card stock an then cut an acetate cover for each one.  I used eyelets to attach the acetate to the card stock.  I cut the smaller white labels from card stock and used repositionable adhesive on the backs.  That way, I can switch out the labels if I change the tin contents.

Christmas Card From the Recycle Bin

The first challenge for December over at Paper Wishes is to make a card that has something recycled on it.  So, off I went to dig through the recycle bin.  Thankfully, we forgot to put it out this week, so I was able to find some treasures.  I found some medium weight blue paper from some glossy flyers, a blue utility envelope and a discarded paper board insert from my latest cutting die purchase from Paper Wishes.  Next, I perused my collection of salvaged security envelopes, you know, the kind with the designs printed on the inside… I sometimes use them for iris folding so I keep an eye out for interesting patterns.  I dug through those and found one with a lovely gray cross-hatch pattern and another one with a matching black pattern.  Lastly, I found an envelope from a card I received last year that had a silver lining inside the flap (yes, I am a packrat, especially if it’s shiny!).

I threw all that together with some Paper Artist cutting dies (Snowflakes and Lacy Labels), Dazzles and Christmas greeting stamps and this is what I came up with.

 

Not bad for trash!

Accentuate the Positive

The focal on this card was stamped twice, once with black ink on ivory paper and then on black paper with white ink. After coloring the flowers with Spectrum Noir pens, I cut the colored image in half diagonally and lined it up over the image stamped on black and cut it out using the Labels 4 cutting die.

Materials used:

• Yellow gingham scrapbook paper
• Ivory card stock
• Black card stock
• Orange card stock
• Black water based ink
• White ink
• Gold smooch ink
• Gold Jewel Border Dazzles
• Spectrum Noir markers
• Serendipity Flowers stamp set (Hot off the Press)
• Labels Four cutting die set (Spellbinders)

Alcohol Ink Pens

A few months ago, I got a set of 72 Spectrum Noir alcohol ink pens.  I didn’t use them much, because I didn’t have a good way to store them so I left them in their original packaging.  And there they sat.  Not wanting to shell out a bunch more money for one of those nifty pen organizers, I decided to make my own.  It’s not pretty, but it works and now my pens are all easily accessible (yes, those are Copics on the top rows.) Except for the paper I decorated it with, my pen organizer is made completely from recycled materials.

Now that my pens are always within reach, I decided I’d better figure out how to use them.  So, I watched a video or two and decided to give it a go.  Here’s a flower I drew on a piece of heavyweight vellum.

Since I was working on vellum, I got the idea to stamp something on a piece of plain paper, put the vellum over the stamped image and then trace it onto the vellum with the alcohol ink pens.  The idea is to get a drawn look even if you’re a lousy artist.  I dug through my stamps and chose the Flower Silhouettes set from Hot Off The Press and set to work using my red (DR1, DR3, DR5, DR7) and green (DG2, DG3, DG4, JG6) pens.

Here’s the result.  Obviously, I need to work a bit more on shading, but all things considered, I think I did OK.

Oh, and my other goal for today was to use up scraps.  Everything on this card except for the border dazzles and the card blank is from my scrap stack.

Here’s the inside:

I put a little piece of foam tape behind the flower to make it stand out from the

card.

If you’d like to participate in a card making forum, come check out the Just Cards forum at http://forum.handcraftedgreetings.com.