Zen ATC

Here is the other card I made last night:

 

 

The background was done with color sprays, and the much beloved Water Droplets stamp by Designs by Ryn.  The sentiment is from Impression Obsession, and I have had it for a while.  I put it in my Use-It Box for this project.  So, yay! Using the Use-It box.

I highlighted some of the water droplets with Glossy Accents, just for fun.

Both stamps are NBUS.  Now I can retire them from my “to-be-used” bag and into my stamp storage.

Supplies:

Bristol Board pre-cut ATC blank — My Art-C

Color Sprays:

Distress Cracked Pistachio

Dylusions Calypso Teal

Tattered Angels Verdigris Glimmer Mist

Stamps:

Water Droplets — Designs by Ryn

After Enlightenment — Impression Obsession

 

 

30 Day Color Challenge, Day 17

I have been following along with the 30 Day Color Challenge (#thedailymarker30day) more or less, coloring things here and there, but not producing much finished work.  I have not been having as much success as I hoped.

Yesterday I colored a piece from the Paper Wishes Awesome Blossoms for Colorists coloring book, just to say I did it, and was participating in the challenge.  Today, I cut it out and mounted it on a card, just to have finished something.  But now that it’s done, I have to say I think it’s pretty cute:

 

 

This particular coloring book is small, 5×7, and single-sided, printed on pretty good cardstock, so you can use it for projects.  It includes some blank tags you can add to your projects, so I colored one and added a sentiment with alpha stickers. I was going to originally mount it with brads, but decided it needed some dimension, so mounted it with some foam tape.

I colored the pice with my plain old Bic Marks-Its, bargain basement alcohol markers, and mounted it on a black card base.  It was just a throwaway thing to do, but I actually really like how it turned out.  Looking forward now to coloring more of the pieces in this book.  This is the first time I’ve used that coloring book, so it’s NBUS.  That’s always a good feeling.  And it was in my long-neglected Use-It Box, so doubly good!

New Stash-Crashing Technique: The Use-It Box

I got this idea from a YouTube channel called Mouse Potato Designs, whose creator, Felicia, an art journaler, has also been on a crusade to winnow out and use up her stash.  She calls hers a “Use It Up Box.”  I would not be so grandiose as to suggest I would actually “use up” a whole anything at once, so I’ll just call mine a Use-It Box.

Basically, it’s just a clear plastic supply box that you keep on your desk or work surface, in which you put things from your stash you would like to actually use over the course of a month or so.  The idea being, if it’s on your desk and you see it, you’re more inclined to use it.  And when it’s time to start a new project, you go to the box and start with those materials.

I really like this idea, so I have inaugurated my first Use-It Box.

Inside I have:

Sticko Epoxy Leaf Stickers

These are shiny/glittery and puffy stickers.  I have a sheet of green ones and a sheet of orange, so since fall is coming around, it seems like a good time to use those.

K & Co. Layered Leaf Stickers

Also in fall colors, so let’s use those too.

Liquid Pearls

I pulled out an array of neutral/metallic colored Liquid Pearls for the autumn palette: Bisque, Gold, Avocado, Copper, and Silver.  I went a little crazy a while back and bought the *entire* range of Liquid Pearl colors, and I never use them.  I have an idea for a masculine card with these.

American Crafts Self-Adhesive Ribbons

I don’t sew or do needlecrafts, so I don’t have many “notions” in my stash, but I do have and like these ribbons, because they are self-adhesive — they have a runner of tape on the back.  I chose orange and green for fall, and the blue as a contrasting color.

Awesome Blossoms Coloring Pack

This an adult coloring book from Paper Wishes, printed on card stock, and sized to go on the front of an A2 card.  “Coloring for Adults” is quite the fad right now, and I have a couple coloring books, but I like that these ones are heavy enough paper to use on cards.

So that, I think, is a good starter group for my first Use-It Box.  I don’t want to get too ambitious, and fill it with so much stuff that I’d never use it all.  This seems like a manageable amount of stuff, but of different, fun types. I’m looking forward to see how this will work out.

Do you have a Use-It Box or anything similar?  How does it work for you?