What To Do With Leftovers

Hello friends and a Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful mothers out there that have a hand in shaping the world around us.   I hope each of you had/have a mother that is as kind and loving as mine.  I feel truly blessed by her and still miss her every day.  She was a great inspiration and role model in teaching me how to be a good mother and a good person.  I can only try to live up to her example.

Today's card is all about using those leftovers you have after one of those creative marathons.  Or am I the only one that always has leftover die-cuts of stems and leaves, extra sentiments because I changed my mind, and those pieces cut from other projects - the ovals, circles, and rectangles, etc.  On yesterday's card, I cut a large oval from the DSP gracing the front panel of my card.  The oval die is from the new Impressions Abloom set and was used to cut a pretty print from the Floral Delight DSP.  It was much too pretty to throw out, so I used it for the center back-drop for today's card.

That piece of DSP was the starting point.  Let's see where it goes from there.  The DSP print looked nice with Old Olive, so that is the base color for the card.  It measures 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" and is scored and folded in half.

There is another print in that pack of DSP that sort of looked like fabric with different tones of Old Olive in it.  This was cut to measure 5 1/4" x 4".  Then it was embossed/die-cut with the Pattern of Friendship background die.  This added the wonderful striped texture to the DSP.  

The Gold Open-weave Trim was wrapped around this layer and attached to the back with Tear & Tape.  This gave just a bit of subtle sparkle when the light hits it just right.  Then the layer was added to the front of the folded Old Olive base with adhesive.

Now, it's time to play with that oval of DSP that was leftover.  I started playing with different pieces of greenery to see what kind of a focal point could be added to the card.  These are the ones that I chose to use.  The white fern type of branch is from the Beautiful Motifs set.  The olive bolder stem and leaves are from Impressions Abloom.  And the smaller stamped and cut greenery is from the Grow with Love set that is an Online Exclusive set.  I liked how these pieces worked together.  They are all attached near the center bottom of the oval piece.  The oval is then attached to the center of the card base using Dimensionals.

I had just stamped and die-cut the new multi-word stamp called More Messages using Pecan Pie.  That meant I had a whole pile of sentiments to choose from.  If you haven't noticed the More Messages stamp and die bundle in the Online Exclusives, you really should check it out.  It is one large stamp with 19 different sentiments that are great for everyday use.  There is 1 die that cuts all of them at once.  Hence, you have a whole pile of sentiments that are ready to use when you are.  I actually stamped it three times - once with Pecan Pie, once with Memento Tuxedo Black, and once with the new Secret Sea that is a lovely navy/black tone.  I separated each group of sentiments by color and put them in little baggies to use as needed.  So handy.

Ok, back to the card.  I chose a sentiment and attached it with Dimensionals.  A double bow was made with Gold Twisted Thread that is retired.  It's attached just under the sentiment with Mini Glue Dots.

The inside is a layer of Basic White with a 1/4" strip of the yellow checked print from the same DSP pack - Floral Delight.  That bit of yellow is a nice contrasting accent to the rest of the card.  Now on to Connie's version using the very same oval on her card.

She also started with an Old Olive base for her card.

There is a layer of that cute yellow and white check print from the Floral Delight DSP that she added.  (That's where I got my little strip for my card.)  Before attaching, she also has the Gold Open-weave Trim wrapped on her card too.

There is another oval die in the Impressions Abloom set that cuts that skinny frame that is added to her oval.  The Old Olive trim really makes the oval stand out nicely.

She chose to use the same greenery stems that I used.  Then added the Gold Twisted Thread double bow to the greenery with Mini Glue Dots.

She chose a different sentiment from the ones I had stamped and cut earlier.  It's also stamped with the Pecan Pie ink.  This is attached with Mini Dimensionals to the left of the greenery.

Hope you like these two versions that are similar but still different.  It's fun to be stamping with someone and each doing our own thing but encouraging each other and making suggestions too.  

I love having all those little bits and pieces saved from other projects.  It makes it easier to just try out different shapes to see if you like them without having to find everything and die-cut and then not be happy and put it all away.  And then start the search all over again.  Do you do that too?

Anyway, it was fun having Connie here to play and create with her.  We both got so much accomplished and were quite pleased with all we had made.

Let me be honest with you.  I like Connie's card more than my own today.  It has a touch of drama to it that really attracts me.  Which one do you prefer?

You really won't hurt my feelings if you like her card better.

Thanks for stopping by today to see what I've been up to lately.  There are a few more items that Connie and I did together that I hope to get to soon.  I've been doing more creating myself that I want to share too.  I guess I'll be busy doing a lot of blogging in the future!

Happy stamping and creating,

Sharon