Thanksgiving Cards

A few simple cards to give thanks to all the wonderful people in your life. I repeatedly stamped a sunflower design and selectively colored only one image. A gingham ribbon was the perfect finishing touch.
Blessings to you!

Recycled Christmas Cards

Today I'm here to share my tips for how to recycle last years Christmas cards. A card with a large central image is simple to cut out like a tree or snowman and use it on a card or layout. However, it is not always easy to use cards because the images overlap or are too detailed and aren’t suitable to be hand cut with scissors. For cards with scenes, these ideas work well.

I have three strategies: circles, strips, or mosaic tiles.

1. Circles- I use circle punches to selectively punch out parts of the card. I typically use a 2in, 2.5in, & 3in punch. It is ok to only punch a partial circle because images that go off the edge can look effective. You will notice there are many partial circles.

 2. Strips- Cut the image into vertical slices. I find the most important focal point in the image and cut it wider than the others. When you reassemble the image, leave 1 cm space between each strip. I recommend keeping faces whole and not to slice through them if possible. For a variation, you can tear the edges or use decorative edge scissors.

3. Mosaic Tile- I cut the image into various shapes or rectangles. Cut the focal point larger or a different shape than the rest and mount it with foam tape to emphasize it. Reassemble the image leaving 1 cm of space between the pieces to create the tiled effect.  It will make cutting the image easier if you hold the card up to a window or light box and make pencils lines on the back side of the card to guide your cutting.

Finally, embellish the images with gems,  ribbons, gel pen detailing, sentiment, or rubber stamp a background

Here is the store bought greeting card I began with.       Here is the transformation into a handmade creation.

This Christmas ornament card combined 2 store bought cards.

One More Inspiration:

I hope you will see cards you get this year as potential to be next years cards you send.
Have fun recycling & happy crafting!

(Bonus Tip: Cutting an image from a card into a tag shape is always quick & effective.)

Cards Using Fabric

I used fabric to make bunting and re-purposed denim for the background. I used a sewing machine to assemble the fabric to the card for a quaint country look.

A couple more cute bunting cards to show you the possibilities with small fabric scraps.

Practical Scrappers Design Team Call

Practical Scrappers are having a design team call for the January 2013-June 2013 term.  Practical Scrappers has been an online source of inspiration for 3 1/2 years and has been a jumping off point for many great designers (just check out the credentials on our designers extraordinaire page). Members of our team have the opportunity for great exposure of their projects as well as a chance to get to know a lot of other talented designers.

We will actually be assembling three teams:
On Trend Monday Team:  This team will focus on trendier topics, tools, etc.  Cards and layouts will be the primary focus.
Ten Things Tuesday:  This team will focus on bringing fresh and creative ideas to our readers thru our Ten Things article.
Specialty Team:  This team will focus on our regular Frugal Finds Feature, a new Pinterest inspired feature, tutorials, altered projects, mini albums, and individual posts.

All of these features are currently found on Practical Scrappers we are just asking our team to zone in on their specialty more.  If you are unfamiliar with any of them, I encourage you to just look thru the blog.  Whichever team you are chosen for will be your primary focus although we may occasionally ask you for help on others.

Design Team members are expected to contribute three projects a month.

How to Apply:
1: Send an email to practicalscrappers@gmail.com with the subject: DT Application 2013
2: Send your name, what state or country you live in, your blog address, and a brief paragraph about yourself.
3: Identify which of the three teams listed above you are interested in applying for.  If you are interested in more than one please rank accordingly.

Deadline to Apply is November 15th at midnight EST. 
We look forward to your applications!

Multiple Stamps

Todays Practical Scrappers challenge was to create a project with at least 2 stamps. I used 3 to complete my card. The sentiment was stamped. The central daisy image was stamped on different colored cardstock & cut out. Finally, the background was created by repeatedly stamping a leafy vine stamp and twisting it each time at a new angle before it was stamped. TIP: make sure some images go off the edge of the page when creating a stamped background paper.