Jazzing up Plain Card Stock

Hi everyone! Practical Scrapper Alison here with a couple ways to help you get more out of your card stock. If you're anything like me, you've got a ton of card stock in your stash that looked cute in the store (or was part of a rainbow package!) but once you got it home you couldn't figure out how to make it work with your other products. I am here to help with a couple ideas using things you may already have on hand.

First let's tackle that "unloved" piece of card stock. It may be that the colour is too bright or not quite the right shade for the rest of your stash. Whatever the problem, I have come up with a solution that is so easy and fun!

Here is a lovely piece of purple card stock from my stash. I'm not sure why, but I just don't scrap with purple. I think at one point I thought I would scrap with purple, but ... well, I'm still waiting for that day to arrive! What's a scrapper to?

PAINT IT!

There are TONS of types of paint you could put onto paper, this is just the one I decided to use today. If you were going to be adding more colours or mediums on top of the paint I'd recommend using gesso first. But that's a discussion for another day!

While the paint is still wet, take something with texture (I used the piece of corrugated card board pictured below) and press it onto the paint.

Now you're left with fabulous texture and only limited glimpses of the original card stock that you didn't know what to do with.

From there just make a layout!

Because of all the texture on the back ground, you don't need a ton of extras. A picture, a title and a few circles punched from my scraps and it's done! To see more examples of using paint to transform "ugly" card stock please visit my Flickr stream here and here.

Okay, now for something a bit different. There are many scrappers out there who love to start with a white card stock back ground and I'll admit that my style is changing a bit towards this vein. But sometimes white can feel a bit boring so here is a fun and easy way to make it more exciting!

SPRAY IT!

I may or may not have a few Mister Huey mists (insert sheepish grin here). For this example I decided to use 6 of them to make a rainbow. 

Simply spray a splotch of each colour at the top of your page and then mist with water.

I use this little mister from Stampin' Up but any craft mister will do. Hold up the paper to let the colours run down your page as much or as little as you like. Once you're happy with the results, and everything is dry, make a layout!

I used my rainbow paper to help tell the story of my niece's 4th birthday party which featured a "real life" fairy. Again, scraps from my scrap bin and minimal embellishments were needed to complete my layout.

I hope you've been inspired to go out there, get a bit messy and create a completely different look and feel to your card stock. Thanks for visiting!

Clever Scraps

Paper is one thing that many of us share as a weakness. It’s hard to walk past the paper row without at least a glance. And then when I get home, I find myself “saving” that new sheet for the perfect layout. The great thing about scraps is that they allow me to use that favorite pattern or color again. It’s inspiring when I find those little pieces leftover and discover a way to use it on one more layout.

Most of us have probably used scrap paper to create an embellishment or maybe to jot down a caption for the pictures on our layout. This week’s challenge was to use scrap paper creatively.

We especially love what Katherine did with her card and the scraps she used to create a heart. (Click on her name to find a tutorial on her blog about how to do this.) Using many scraps to create one shape, adds dimension and interest to an element on your page that otherwise might be ho-hum.

One thing that I love, is when I grab a couple of random scraps that didn’t come together in a kit or a set, and find that they can work together to form a new look. It’s in these accidental collections that I find colors that I hadn’t thought to put together and patterns that are fun and refreshing. Here's a link to one such accident.

With a couple of punches or a die-cut machine, I can use larger, colorful scraps on a simple background and create a look like this one from Shannon Tidwell at Two Peas in a Bucket. This is the kind of idea that makes me want to run to my scrap table and try something new!

It’s a real test, if you’re up for it, because it’s easy to use our materials in the same ways over and over again. Maybe the real challenge is to use scraps differently than you usually do. Some of us may be pros at one technique, but rarely tackle another.

Not only do we want to encourage you to use what you have – the hundreds of scraps of paper you might have in a drawer or a box – but we want you to use them in new ways. Grab a handful, see what happens, and then share!

Christine

Heidi

Marjorie

Barbara

Lynn

Brenda

Kristin

Ashlee

Brandilynn

Katherine