GIU Day 3: KARATE CHOP SOMETHING

Hello my lovelies!  So glad you can join me as I take on the challenge of KARATE CHOPPING SOMETHING. 

I had to sharpen my karate paper chopping skills.  Check out these hand blades!

I'm going to be real with you right now when I tell you that I have too many scraps of paper.  My craft table scrap bin looks like this insanity:

Yes, I know. It's a sickness. ( I have two other scrap paper bins that are kind of sorted by color).  My problem is I never know how to use all these pretty little scraps.  I was pondering this issue while watching Property Brothers one day, and they were of course tiling a back splash in a kitchen with a Herringbone pattern!  Ding Ding Ding!!!! A light bulb moment hit me, and I knew I had to work that tiling idea into my scrappy card.

First I picked out 6 cool colors of paper.  They have different textures, shimmers, weights and patterns.  I wasn't concerned with anything other than I wanted them to be related by color.

Next I got to chopping.  I cut each pattern into 10 tiles that were .5" by 1" for a total of 60 tiles. It did not use up all my paper, but I did make a dent.  I tried using my sweet karate skills, but I relented and used my Fiskars chopper instead. 

There could be many right ways to make this tiled patterned paper, but this is how I did it.  I took a 3 3/4" x 5" white piece of paper and used double sided tape over the whole thing.  You could also run it through a Xyron sticker maker instead. I suppose you could use glue too, but I am too lazy for all of that.  I then started laying out my pattern.  I started in one corner and put three of the patterns going one direction and the other three going the other direction.  I think Jonathan and Drew would be proud of my handy work. 

Once I finished the pattern there were all kinds of pieces hanging off the sides.  So I trimmed them up, giving me this almost quilted looking background! I love the sparkly pieces the most :-).

Now to add some glorious UNITY!  I chose this duck from the kit Chillax Dude because he is so cool.  His sentiments are really funny too.  I watercolored him with some blues and that pop of orange.  

Finally, I matted my duck, put a strip of white with a sentiment from Planner Girl: Cold Outside, down and attached to my card. I took a tiny pen and made those little stitch dots to finish.  Bippity Boppity Boo, its done!

Well, my friends, I hope you enjoyed the KARATE CHOPPING of my scrap pile.  I challenge you to try this scrap-using technique or to come up with a new and innovative way to use up those little pieces of paper you can't just throw away.

You can follow me on Instagram @shannon.edwards where I post all my little projects during the week.

Kits used:

Chillax Dude

Planner Girl: Cold Outside

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