Saturday, April 7, 2012

Stash Card

I haven't done a craft blog post in months and months...so I decided to use my Easter break wisely and get crafting! Coupled with the fact I've just gutted my craft workspace to make it pretty and beautiful and clean, I was itching to craft.



Of course, by cleaning out my space I realised just how much STASH I have hidden away in those storage drawers! Look at the paper stash alone! That's a big A4 box file! I also found loads of little freebies from magazines, and some ribbon and stuff that I bought in sales on honeymoon (yes, I went craft shopping on honeymoon) and things.



So, I decided to make a card using only stashed items, and I think I stuck pretty well to it!

I also decided to use the sketch over at Annabelle Stamps Blog (find the sketch here) and it was the very first time I've made a card using one! I'll be entering this wee baby into that challenge.

Basics:

The pink card was free in a magazine kit. I don't usually use prescored cards but I decided that it was there in my stash, and I would have to use it at some point, so why not?



I dug around on the internet for a freebie digistamp which would work well in a circle shape - I have a terrible habit of just buying a brand new digi for every card I make. I wanted to satisfy my digibuying addiction but not pay any money, so I found this absolutely fabulous Wine Fairy over at Broken Box Stock's freebie page! How fantastic is that? And so true!

I popped her into Inkscape and scaled her down to fit inside my 6cm circle X-cut die for my Cuttlebug - I've only ever used the two largest circles of this kit so it was lovely to use the smaller size.

I even managed to print her out on a piece of card from my stash! My printer moaned about this initially as I told it the page was A4. I lied. I'm sorry, printer.

For the last three months I've had Prismacolour watercolour pencils in my equipment stash and I've used them once. I dug them out because the stamp was too delicate for my trusty Promarkers and I couldn't be bothered using my extra fine nibs. Lazy, lazy crafter. Then my Sakura glitter pen came out to play on the wings and wine.





She went through my trusty (as you can see, well used) Cuttlebug ready for taking her place on the card.

I have tons of ribbon - mostly plain - which I use on lots of cards, but I can't resist a bargain. I deliberated over two cheap Docrafts 99p ribbon spools that I haven't had a chance to use yet (I have so many £1 or £2 craft items which I pick up because they'll be "so handy" and then never actually touch)...




Then I struck gold! I found a ribbon I bought in Michael's on honeymoon for 99c! It had the lovely purpley pink colour as well as the white and that teal is my favourite colour in the world...it had to go on the card.

Digging through my stash of paper and card I found a lovely deep purple colour for the mat. It matched the ribbon and pulled things together a little bit.

And then another crafty dilemma...gems or pearls? Gems or pearls?



I remembered my own little promise to myself to use only items from my stash, and dug out three pink gems which had come free with a magazine. I usually just use plain diamonds or pearls, but this was my challenge!

Everything was stuck on, and I had a small disaster. The double sided tape I so confidently plastered across my card for the ribbon was too broad for it. Meep. I resorted to trusty glitter to cover the error...so now I have two very intentional narrow bands of glitter round the ribbon, of course. An expert touch!

I made up a funny wee sentiment and used tracing paper to transfer a nice font from the printer onto the card, writing it on with fineliner and rubbing out the transferred guideline.



Her prayers were answered and lo, the wine fairy cometh...





Hope you like it!

MC xx