It's St. Patrick's Day and I've Been Playing with Paper!

Hello, Friends! Happy St. Patrick's Day to all who celebrate it! Well, just as the blog post title states...I've been playing with paper! I love patterned paper! I have a huge collection of it and it seems like it's growing! Using patterned paper in card making used to be a big thing and over the years it's become less trendy, with many card makers opting for clean and simple designs, cards with a large focal panel matted with card stock or cards with scenes. All beautiful choices, no doubt, but as for me and my cards, we will use patterned paper!

I have really been intrigued by two card makers in particular, who feature patterned papers in their designs. I am sure you know them both, Kristie Marcotte from The Best Things in Life are Pink and Crafty Al from the Call Me{Crafty}Al YouTube channel If you've got stacks and drawers and boxes full of patterned paper like I do, I highly recommend that you visit these ladies because they can show you how to use up a pack of paper in no time! 

That brings me to my card share for today. I used the February 2021 SheetLoad sketch from CraftyAl. I was able to create NINE cards in very little time. Selecting the patterned papers to use took the longest amount of time! I used a collection of papers from Photo Play Paper called, Tulla & Norbert Lucky Charm. It is soooo cute! I loved that it had gnomes on it and not Leprechauns because I'm not sure if Leprechauns are offensive to the Irish.  Let's take a look at what I created...

NINE CARDS! That's what I created! And no stamping, no coloring, no die cutting! I simply selected the papers and stickers I wanted to play with and then using the cutting guide provided in the sketch, I commenced to cutting, stacking and organizing all of my bits and pieces. Then I built the cards, assembly line syle.

The camera doesn't show it but, the little icons are adhered to a piece of shimmer card stock that gives off a soft rainbow glow when tilted just so in the light. I wanted to go willy nilly with embellishments but at the end, opted not to because I was planning to mail them all out. Which I did, by the way! I sold a few and then mailed the others out to some folks I hadn't reached out to in a while.

This was super fun and oh so easy! I still have plenty of patterned paper left and I'm already working with another sketch to create more St. Patrick's Day cards to have ready for donation next year. I would rather store cards than have packs of paper in boxes and bins. I'm really trying to decrease my stash!

Here's a peek-a-boo at how I finished off the inside of the cards...

I did a wee bit of stamping on the insides but using my MISTI made it fast and easy. I just set everything up one time and stamped, stamped, stamped! The blessing and prayer stamps, as well as the bitty shamrocks framing the greeting are my tried and true favorites from a company that is no longer in business, sadly. It was Waltzingmouse Stamps, designed by Claire Brennan. The "Happy St. Patrick's Day" comes from the Lovely Legs, St. Patrick's Day set from Colorado Craft Company. I  just love the font and the size of that greeting. I used a few different colors of ink and I die cut the panels using a Wonky Stitched Rectangle die from Whimsy Stamps and if you look really closely at the tiny shamrocks, you'll see a bit of a sparkle from an old, old, OLD sticker sheet from Elizabeth Crafts. Pretty nifty, right?!

And now here's a tiny tidbit for ya...I had my ancestry traced and guess what?! I really AM Irish! Hahahaha! Who knew?! Well, that might explain the fine red hair I had when I was a little girl. 

Thanks for stopping by and putting up with all my shenanigans today. I hope each of you is having a wonderful day! Happy St. Patrick's Day!

 Blessings~

 

#SUYSFeb2021 #showusyoursheetload