creating >> ScrapHappy November

Until my recent affliction with the Covid I was on a mission to save old cards from ending up in the recycle bin and spent many a morning cutting and sticking for half an hour before breakfast to make new cards from old. They are so easy to do I would encourage anyone to have a go as they save on both money and waste. All you need is a roll of the white double sided tape that you can purchase from Hobbycraft, The Range, Rymans and I think even Sainsbury’s stock it. I use the one that is approximately 1cm wide.

You can buy large packs of white card blanks quite cheaply but I prefer these that are in many different colours and sizes. They are more expensive (about £1.25 for 4 or 6 in a pack depending on the size) but they do provide a strong border to really set off a card.

So below is a selection of a few of the ones I have done so far. I apologise for the terrible lighting – November must be the worst month for indoor photography and the lack of light.

Once the main part of the old card has been mounted onto a new card you can add your own embellishments and wording which you can buy from all good craft shops quite cheaply. These are some that I am waiting to do.

The two little cards below were made using bits of decorations peeled off some old cards.

And this one was actually the little printed part on the back of a birthday card remounted in an aperture card blank – so as you can see nothing here is wasted.

On the reverse of the card I stick a little homemade label that tells the recipient that this is a ‘recycled card’

I also found a few photocopy prints of my own sketches and mounted these onto some cardstock.

If you are feeling more creative you can use parts of cards to make your own designs – a cut out heart can make a great anniversary card when embellished a little. Earlier in the year I made a few of these special concertina anniversary cards using scraps of pink paper, my lovely heart shaped stamp and some embossing powder.

For my friends 80th I used a few scraps of fabric to stitch together this cute little 80 card.

So before you put that pile of old birthday cards in the recycle bin look to see if anything is salvageable or sparks an idea and might give an old card a new lease of life.

Happy Scrapping!

You will find more ScrapHappy ideas from these blogs:-

Kate, Gun, Eva, Sue, Lynda, Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy, Tracy, Jill, Claire, Jan, Moira, Sandra, Chris, Alys, Claire, Jean, Jon, Dawn, Jule, Gwen, Sunny, Kjerstin, Sue L, Vera, Nanette, Ann, Dawn 2, Carol, Preeti, Edith, Debbierose, Noilin.