The Paper Chase

I love paper...all kinds of paper, and I have a TON of it. But do I have enough? Never! Why, just last week I was dragged, kicking and screaming, to a local paper store.

Truth be told, a few co-workers had planned an outing to The Paper Source in Georgetown and I begged to go along. Two of them are working on pre- and post-wedding projects, and I, um, well, I needed paper, ya know?

I did set a limit for myself. You see, the last time I went on a similar field trip, I came home with a bunch of must-have papers. And these are not those puny 12x12 sheets. No, siree! They are 'parent' sheets. Here is the definition of a parent sheet from about.com: "Standard parent sheet sizes are 17x22, 19x25, 23x35, and 25x38 (North American sheet sizes) or A2, A1, and A0 (ISO sheet sizes)." See? BIG! Since most of the parent sheets I had to have last time are still neatly rolled in their bag in which they followed me home, I told myself I'd go on this field trip adventure, but NO PARENT SHEETS! Only 12x12 sheets allowed.

Broke that rule as soon as I walked in the door. Although I must say I did show amazing restraint, for me, and only bought three sheets. Two of them match the new Stampin' Up! In Colors, which was my justification for their purchase. I did pick up a few, okay maybe 10, 12x12 sheets of card stock, too, plus a few - a FEW - embellishments, including the amazingly hard-to-find gold gel pens. What's up with that, anyway? Who's buying all of them that I cannot find them anywhere?

Back to the topic at hand. So I bought three parent sheets and made myself USE them before I put them away. Imagine that - USE paper. HAHA! I hoard, I do not USE. But since I was looking for more creative avoidance last week, this was perfect! (BTW, I finally did cut up cardstock and make the workshop kits, though it was late Saturday. ;-).

So here are the three papers I got:


Love 'em! Following is what came out of that must-use-it session.





[Now this is where Blogger and I butt heads ... sorry about this silly spacing issue. Scroll, please, to continue.]






This first card uses a paper that literally screamed Groovy Guava and Wild Wasabi to me. I think it goes quite well!




Recipe: SU card stock - Groovy Guava, Wild Wasabi, Very Vanilla; non-SU paper; Marvy oval punches; A Muse sentiment; CHF bg; SU ink - Groovy Guava, Wild Wasabi; misc. ribbon.






This next paper looked like Groovy Guava and "one of our greens"...I chose Old Olive, but Garden Green might work well, too.

One of my flaws (and yes, I have many), is the inability to complete a card once I match the papers. I've had the paper laid out on this one for a week, unable to figure out what to put ON the paper. Sigh. Just tonight I ended up with four circles, all the same size. I punched the Vanilla one with the 1/4 inch square punch to make the 'teeth', then layered it onto the Old Olive circle. The two Cranberry circles are just stuck on the back, offset a bit.

Recipe: SU card stock - Very Vanilla, Cranberry Crisp, Old Olive; non-SU paper; SU ink - Sahara Sand; CHF bg; Prima flower dyed in Cranberry Crisp reinker + water; misc brads.



This last one is not an In Color, but it does have the Fleur de Lis, which seems to be a theme for me this year. It lends itself well to 'manly' cards. I used Night of Navy, which I do not use nearly as much as I should, and I got to incorporate one of my many must-have Fleur de Lis punches. I kinda like how it turned out.

Recipe: SU card stock - Confetti Cream, Night of Navy; non-SU paper; Fleur de Lis punch; SU Cream gg ribbon.


I struggled a bit with this one, because the background of the Fleur de Lis paper is more of a creamy color - yellower than our Very Vanilla and whiter than our Barely Banana. Now my new mission, of course, is to find the perfect card stock to go with this paper. Naturally, this means a field trip to Recollections, home of Everything Scrapbooking, and more! I can get lost in there for hours. Maybe I'll save myself and make do with the Confetti Cream, ya think?

See, I can actually dip into the hoard and use it, sometimes. Based on the condition of my Craft (Storage) room, I have a loooong way to go! Maybe when I get my act together I'll host a Stop Hoarding contest. Some day ...

This was just my first pass with these papers - there is so much potential, I must use them some more! But for now, my first shipment of new Stampin' Up! goodies arrived today, and I just unpacked the box. YUM! Off to mount the stamps and get a-playin'!