Stash Busting with Cards

I have had a spate of crafty friends' birthdays recently.  When I say crafty - some of them scrapbook, some of them don't.  Some of them make cards, some of them don't.  Being financially challenged, for the non-cardmakers, I decided to send them a present of a stack of cards for various occasions. 

Amongst other things, this is a selection of cards that I recently sent to my friend, Val. 

A good few years ago, Tara had given me miscellaneous size envelopes.  I think this was nearly the last lot I had left.  So I got to and made card blanks out of some of the card weight of the A4 bundle I bought from the Papermill when I originally started papercrafting.  The colour of the blank was determined by the colour of the envelope, naturally!

For the above card, I used a piece of 6 x 6 paper that came with a free stack from a card-making magazine, and a message spot from the free paper that came with the Scrapbooking Magazine once upon a time.  I haven't seen that magazine for a couple of years, so I am not sure if they are still doing that - but my card making has benefitted from those free papers over the years.  I stamped the message with the American Crafts "birthday" set of stamps, and added a hot pink felt flower I've had in my flower stash for many years. 

Here I added a birthday message from Craftwork Cards onto a blue circle to ground it.  I even had that orange star in my orange scraps bag!  I felt the pattern also worked well in this instance. 

These cards couldn't be simpler!  The following really proves it - a scalloped circle spot, a round birthday message, and a sticky border with some yellow ric rac and done! 

Spot a trend - they are really similar to each other in design - I just change around the elements a bit. 

So - by making a small batch of cards, it has used up some ribbon, some A4 card, some Craftwork Cards sentiments, and a bit more freebie mag paper.  And I am pretty sure that this present was made in the course of one evening - very productive use of my time, I would say! 

You will read more and more stash busting efforts mentioned here in the coming months - all gearing towards the big expected move next year.