Monday, July 18, 2011

Resourceful Photo Scrap Note Cards

** UPDATE: Don't forget to enter to win my awesome handmade note card giveaway!  Entries are open until 8 p.m. on Monday, August 1.  There are up to six ways to enter! **

You might remember from other posts that I value resourcefulness and keep odds and ends that might be useful for future crafts.  Like the faux leather box for my accordion photo box gift for Father’s Day or glass jars for my leaf decoupaged jars.  So it should be no surprise that I save scraps of paper leftover from scrapbooking and other paper crafts and the edges I trim off photographs.  I also save interesting pieces of product boxes.  Here’s a look into my scrap drawer:


Someday I'm sure I’ll know someone who’d like a Hello Kitty note card!  See all the photo scraps?  Those are leftover from my accordion photo box, and they were the inspiration for a series of note cards I just made.

I arranged the photo scraps into categories based on subject matter.

 
The setting sun on these fence posts was my favorite grouping. 
I then dug around through my bigger scraps to find paper for layering and the paper that will be the note card itself.  It turned out that I had to use a new sheet of paper for the card, because the note cards came out on the big side.


I’m no longer a fan of measuring for projects like these.  My strategy for getting even cuts is to glue down the photo and then [carefully] make the cuts.


After I matted my three photo scraps….


 I glued them down onto a large piece of scrapbooking paper and then trimmed it down to size.



Gah!  My handwriting is so terrible.

And then I made another!  One was for my friend’s son’s first birthday (I wrote about his awesome animal-themed party yesterday, in case you missed it) and the other is for Betsy, who is the brains behind the knit for Japan effort on Small Things.


If you plan on making note cards to put in the mail, you’ll probably want to plant your card to be a specific envelope size, or just make your own custom envelope.

Phoenix’s card was hand-delivered, and Betsy’s card was snuggled in with my knitted items for those who lost everything in Japan’s recent earthquake and tsunami.



In this information age, I’ll never stop reading printed books or sending paper cards in lieu of electronic mail.  I just love how these resourceful photo scrap note cards turned out!

22 comments:

  1. What a great idea for those photo offcuts! Those cards are beautiful!


    Thanks for linking to a Round Tuit!
    Hope you have a great week!
    Jill @ Creating my way to Success
    http://www.jembellish.blogspot.com/

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  2. Those cards are fabulous! What a treat for the recipients. And, you know what? I have one of those drawers too! It's stuffed to the gills with bits and pieces, including product boxes, that WILL come in handy. That DO come in handy for crafty pursuits. Crafty kindred spirits, methinks.

    Blessings...

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  3. wow..kelly these are simply awesome...u have given me a wonderful idea...i can make somethin like this with magazine photographs...i wont send them as cards...let me think what i can do with them. thanks for inspiring. and yes thanks for stopping by the other day...u wont believe i am excited too to see pics of nathan helping u in kitchen and all the other things i am doing with mishu but culdnt do some months back...love this phase. hope u have a happy week...love to nathan

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  4. Really like this idea! I am glad I am not the only one out there who still sends home made cards in the mail. It is almost a lost art.
    Emma
    www.MommysRecess.com

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  5. so pretty and simple!

    megan
    craftycpa.blogspot.com

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  6. love this cute idea we have a child that is leaving to go to school may have to do this very thing

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  7. I LOVE this idea. Thank you for sharing it at the Frugal Tuesday Tip! http://juliecache.com/2011/07/18/frugal-tuesday-tip-and-a-winner

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  8. It kind of looks like your looking through a window! That's a good use of photos w/o people!

    www.createandshow.blogspot.com

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  9. That is such a great idea, and I really love it! Thank you for sharing! :)

    Donna in Indiana

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  10. Stopping by from someday crafts. This is a very cool idea. Maybe I will just cut up some whole photos to create the same effect.

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  11. I'm so grateful that you linked up in this week's Creative Bloggers' Party & Hop :) This awesome post totally rocked the party!

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  12. What a cool idea. Gotta keep that one in mind, but I've still got so very many other cards I've picked up or made to send.

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  13. Lovely idea - I love the idea of using up scraps of photos that might otherwise have been thrown away :)

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  14. We love making handmade cards. Adding the photos is so great. I know we will be doing this soon. Thanks for sharing.

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  15. These cards are wonderful, what a great idea, I will have to give this a try! Thanks~April

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  16. Fantastic card! I wish I had some talent to do that. I think I might have to make a card for my daughters first birthday in October. I have some time, so when I mess up....

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  17. What a beautiful, thoughtful gift idea! I especially love how they came from scraps and photo pieces Gozo wouldn't normally use. What a clever idea that would mean so much to the recipient!!

    Thanks for sharing this with us at Rub Some Dirt On It!

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  18. What an absolutely fantastic idea! I really love it and am going to try it our ASAP!
    Thanks for linking this up to my party!!

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  19. Your cards are really lovely!

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  20. These are beautiful! And I agree- snail mail cards will always be a MILLION times better than electronic. :) Thank you so much for linking up to Strut Your Stuff Saturday! We are so grateful for your support and we hope that you will be back tomorrow to share more great ideas!
    Camille @
    SixSistersStuff.blogspot.com

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  21. Great way to recycle!! It would be neat to do a bigger scale of this to make a picture to hang on your wall (maybe using a calendar?)
    Thanks for Sharing!!
    Brenda
    http://www.piggygiggles.com

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  22. Oh my goodness, these cards are spectacular! You have definitely inspired me! I need to go look through my scraps now.

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