When I sit down to create projects I generally have a fairly good idea of what I want to do. Occasionally though things may take an unexpected turn. Most often it’s because I did something I didn’t really intend to do. Sometimes that means I have to do a quick cover up, other times it’s a good ‘mistake’ that I decide I want to keep. But today’s surprise with the Storybook Gnomes paper occurred as I saw the potential in a scrap of card left over from an earlier project.

GNOMES PAPER

This card actually began when I was looking through the Storybook Gnomes 12″ x 12″ Designer Series Paper (DSP) Pack. I came across this pretty pattern that reminded me of a knitted sweater and cut a strip 3″ x 5-1/2″. Then after cutting a 3-1/8″ x 5-1/2″ piece of Balmy Blue Card I mounted the paper on top using Multipurpose Liquid Glue (Tombow).

For my card base I used my Paper Trimmer to cut and scored some Night of Navy Card. Then I folded it along the scored line and sharpened the crease with my Bone Folder. Finally I fixed the layered DSP to the front of the card base with more liquid glue.

By this point I’d decided that I would use the same paper as my coordinating feature. So next I cut a 3/4″ x 5-1/4″ strip and glued it along the bottom edge of a 4″ x 5-1/4″ piece of Basic White Card. Then I fixed this layer inside the card base so there would be somewhere to write a message.

Now I just needed one last piece of the DSP and I cut that at 2-1/4″ x 6″. Using liquid glue I attached the DSP to the flap of a Basic White Medium Envelope. Then I trimmed off the excess paper with Paper Snips, using the edge of the flap as a guide.

WARM SWEATERS

With the basics done it was time to turn my attention to the focal point of the card. The background paper had reminded me of winter sweaters and I remembered I had a sentiment that mentioned ‘warmth’. It didn’t take me long to find it in the Very Best Occasions Stamp Set… “May you enjoy the warmth of family this season”.

Then I reached for my plastic file pocket containing all my Basic White Card scraps. I found a piece that at 2-1/4″ was the perfect width. It was too long of course, and had a hole in it where I’d previously punched out a sentiment using the Label Me Lovely Punch, but I was going to punch out my sentiment so it really didn’t matter.

After stamping the sentiment onto the card using Night of Navy ink I set it aside while I closed the ink pad. It’s a habit I’ve tried to get into to save myself the frustration of getting inky fingers and arms as I lean across an open ink pad. Then when I turned back to the sentiment piece I realised that the punched hole that I was planing to cut off actually created a little “frame”. What’s more peeking through the frame was another sheet of the Storybook Gnomes paper. That’s when I had the idea to cut a section of this design so that I had a scene featuring a couple of gnomes.

Using the hole in the card to help me with my choice I finally found the perfect section of the paper. Then I cut the piece to 2″ x 3″ and glued it behind the punched hole. With that done I trimmed the Basic White layer down to 3-7/8″ high and glued it to a 2-3/8″ x 4″ piece of Balmy Blue Card.

Finally I added the completed layer to the card front using Stampin’ Dimensionals and my project was complete.

I love how this card turned out especially since that little ‘picture’ frame was completely unplanned. It did make me think though that the DSP could easily be replaced with a family photo for a very personal Christmas card. What do you think?

For another project using the Storybook Gnomes paper see my blog post Gnomes and snowflakes.

PRODUCT LIST

BUNDLE BONUS – I bought the Very Best Occasions Stamp Set in a bundle with the Very Best Trio Punch (not used today). Using the single ‘bundle’ item number to order meant I saved 10% off the cost of buying the two items separately. I’ve included a link to the bundle below in case you want to explore that option.