Scrapping Cards

When I originally started buying scrapping supplies, I was a scrapbooker. I knew nothing about rubber stamping and making cards. I had a pen pal invite me to an online chat room for scrapbookers and my whole world changed then. That was in the summer of 2004. Before then ... all I knew was stickers. :) lol My first scrapbook I completed was in 1976 ... I used construction paper and I remember cutting out mats and flowers to "decorate" the pages with. I used Elmer's glue and glued the pictures right into the scrapbooks. :-\ I was the youngest of 10 and my mother left me to my own devices ... so long as I did not touch any of her sewing supplies and stayed in my room I could do whatever I wanted with our family pictures. Can you imagine? Needless to say ... when I inherited my mother's things in November 2009 and found our family scrapbooks ... I was quite horrified at what I had done! Since 1976 I had become quite sophisticated with my scrapbooking... I still used construction paper and made all my embellishments for my pages but now I used photo corners. :) It was not until summer of 2003 when while shopping at a Dollar Tree that Nina opened up my eyes to what was out there. She asked for a couple of packs of 12X12 printed paper with the matching ribbons and stickers. $5 total... how could I say no to my baby? As I watched her put it together I marveled at the ease! :D I laugh about that eye opening experience now. Even then, I only went to Dollar Tree... it wasn't until September 2003 when a supervisor gifted me a scrapbooking kit for my birthday did I realize what a gold mine I had stumbled upon. She had actually bought it at an LSS. I had no idea what that was and was too embarrassed to ask so I stumbled along... in December 2003 we were collecting toys for the United Way. I had seen an advertisement in the Michael's flyer for some children's activity sets for cheap. I swung by there to buy these. It was during my lunch hour and I thought I would browse. I had shopped Michael's before ... but for fabric. I use to sew my children's clothing when they were in grade school. As I browsed about I found the scrapbooking supplies ... and my life was completely transformed. Thousands of dollars later, I find myself here.

This morning as I was browsing Pinterest ... ;) ... I stumbled upon this ... and let's NOT go to Stumble Upon! I marveled at her organization and drooled at all the ribbon. This put me in an organizing mood. I spent almost 9 hours organizing my embellishments today. From when I dropped Jay off at work which is about 12ish till I went to pick him up about 9ish. Organizing... yep... that is ALL I did... well, except for a little break to feed myself and potty breaks. :) As I organized ... I discovered to my horror ... what a waste of resources I was involved with. I'm a recycler. I don't idle my vehicle at drive thrus... (sp?) ... I do green whenever I can... and yet here I was hoarding mountains and mountains of scrapping embellishments I may not ever use because I find I don't scrapbook since my kids became adults. I don't know why! Life continued. But as I organized... I vowed to use more of my things... as a matter of fact... I plan to not buy a single thing until I use all the supplies I currently have ... wait ... at least 75% ... no, maybe half ... ok ... at the very least about 25% ... well ... SOME of it. ;) lol

With that in mind, I bring you FOUR Halloween cards I worked on tonight. I am practicing staying up late for the graveyard shift next week. My start date was moved from Friday night this week to the 14th. So I have plenty of time to practice. :)

I did use the Bazzill card stock I recently purchased for that card swap I missed. But the cut outs are all from scrapbooking kits I had left over and really think I may not use if I don't use them now. I would be horrified to gift these to fellow crafters but my family does not know if I bought these eight years ago or yesterday. All they would appreciate is that it is a handmade card. :)

On the one above, I outlined the foam trick or treat with Black Diamond Stickles to add some sparkle to the card. I DID remember to use multi-colored twine. :) I also used some of the Robin's Nest Dew Drops I like so much.

I don't know if you can see, but the ghost is outlined with the Zig 2 way glue and sprinkled with some  Barbara Trombley's Art Glitter AND I remembered the twine again! ;) The ghost is paper piecing I made years ago when I discovered paper piecing. :)

On this final card, I smeared Diamond Stickles on the happy Halloween foam sticker. I chose Diamond because I thought it picked up more of the orange in the bling of it all. ;) lol I also smeared this on the spiders and I think you can see the orange in the bottom spider. The spiders are from a punch I received in a swap. I think the spiders are a pretty good size! I used foam dots to pop the spiders up off the card and I think they really look like they are poised to jump. Here's a close up of the spider. I can't seem to be able to capture it as well as I had hoped but I think you get the picture.

I was thinking today ... I probably use a lot of 3D imagery on my cards because of the history I just gave you. I spent years making my own embellishments... first... as a teenager because I lived in my own world as any teen would and then as I got older ... I had no idea I could go to a store and buy this stuff! So I just kept making my embellishments. It's hard to break old habits! Next time ... I will give you a history lesson about how I discovered rubber stamping! ;) lol