Unusual Inspiration

I'm so excited about this post b/c it includes 2 very cool ideas/techniques! The first is using free paint samples in place of cardstock. This is really great for cards since they don't have to be 12 x 12 or 8 1/2 x 11 sized, and plus, you can get them in any and every color and can be used as a great way to challenge your use of color. The samples I used are ones I got from Walmart's paint department, and are Glidden and Better Homes and Gardens brands b/c they have more free-space (more details in the "free products" post from January 29th). The second idea I had was to made clear-background cards, which I did by buying a pack of 3M brand transparencies. I love the way you can layer, texture, and add a little something unexpected to the projects.

(1) A tri-fold card using a BH&G paint sample as the background, with paper studio brand glitter-stickers, and a sentiment I printed off the computer and cut/glued to mimic the cosmo cricket tiny type letter stickers. I also took pictures of the 2 top layers to show how everything works together.

(2) A card-holding pocket that I made out of a sheet of 3M transparency.

(3) This one uses the same set of paper studio stickers from the 1st card, and has 2 sheets of transparency stacked (the bottom layer w/ the stickers, and the top layer ambossed with a cuttlebug folder).

(4) A valentine's day card using some Doodlebug stickers, and a Glidden paint sample (which shows you how big those samples can get!). The other pictures are just to show you how I layered the stickers by putting some on the inside to show through the transparency.

(5) These next 2 are part of a set I made, that include 2 of each card.

(6) This one uses 2 BH&G paint samples and 2 different embossing folders (both from Cuttlebug).

(7) And this last one uses a Glidden paint sample, textured yellow cardstock, and stickers from Creative imaginations and Bo Bunny.