The DSP problem

I admit, I have a problem with designer series paper (DSP). I love it, and buy way too much of it! Since I'm not a huge scrapbooker, it takes me a long time to get through one pack of paper. Multiply that by several packs, plus paper shares, and you start to understand my issue. I'm sure many of you have the same problem! I used to struggle with hoarding particular paper that I loved, but I came to a realization last summer that life is just too short to hang on to everything. There is always more beautiful paper that is coming out, and after a while, even the paper that I loved can start to seem tired and dated to me. So my resolution is to use up that paper!


I have been seeing this card making the blog rounds lately and I was quite enamoured of it because it uses up a whole pack of dsp without breaking a sweat! Unfortunately, I don't have the scallop square die, and I don't have a ton of 12x12 cardstock lying around to make the most efficient card bases. So I adapted the original card to standard size, and then adapted Julie Davison's wonderful design to use up the scraps leftover from those, and voila, a stack of beautiful easy cards all ready to go! 1 sheet of 12x12 dsp makes a total of 9 cards (6 of one design and three of the other). I'm sending most of mine to From Our Hearts, but I kept a few thank you and thinking of you cards because my personal stash was pretty depleted.


So for those of you who have a lot of dsp lying around that you'd like to use up (especially with the new catalog coming out in July with lots of lovely new paper, I'm sure!), here's how you cut it. Take the 12x12 sheet and cut it into three 4" strips. Cut each strip into 5 1/4" pieces, so you now have two 4"x5 1/4" pieces, plus a 4"x 1 1/2" strip left over. Repeat with the other two strips so you end up with 6 large pieces and three little strips. Add ribbon, punched sentiment and adhere to card base! Easy. You can see on the card above how the little strips are added. I just cut a bunch of Whisper White or Very Vanilla (depending on the dp) card fronts, add a torn strip of cardstock in a coordinating color, put the strip on top and stamp a largish sentiment in the corner. You can also use the Fabulous Frames set and stamp a small sentiment in the middle, as with this card (a total CASE of Julie's card):