Inkspirational: Use Your Stash

It's time for my second post as guest designer at Inkspirational! You'd almost think the theme was picked with me in mind...

 If you know me at all, you know that most of what I use to make cards is considered STASH - stuff I've owned for a long time. When I do buy stuff, it's more often a product that's been around for a while, rather than something newly released. (A rare exception was jumping on Concord & 9th's new Turnabout Toolkit as soon as it came out. Generally, I buy something hot off the production line once a year or less...) So I gave myself an extra challenge - not just use my regular stash, but dig into my bins of stuff already stamped and sometimes already coloured, too. (Some people call these UFOs - unfinished objects.) As I looked through my collection, I put together several items and came up with this: 

Stash stuff: every single piece on the wreath, including the sentiment. They all came to live in my stash after a play date with Emily last spring! This is a great layering set, since it's designed to be more artistic than precise. Precision is not always my friend. :D I built the wreath on a base previously cut from an Altenew wreath-builder set. The warm grey base layer was freshly cut for this card. 

Of course, once I had my stash spread out all over the place, it only made sense to put together a few more cards! 

Stash stuff: the light bulb was coloured for one of Kathy Racoosin's 30 day colouring challenges, and the background was embossed for another card but not ultimately used. The sentiment is freshly stamped. 

Thinking ahead, I next made an Easter card: 

Stash stuff: the lamb, bunny ears and butterfly were all previously stamped and die cut but had to be coloured for this card, the sky background was stamped a long time ago and the green layer had also been previously die cut. I added the sentiment and the purple mat. 

What happens when you use jelly beans as a photo prop:
they look like cat toys! 

And finally, a cat card:

Stash stuff: My snarky sister Chris sent me a bunch of stamped Katzelkraft cats and dogs, since I have yet to add them to my collection, so I coloured and fussy-cut this one; the kraft layer had also been previously stamped. I added the stamped and die cut speech bubble and the patterned paper layer. 

Phew! I hope you're still with me. I'd like to say I made a dent in my stash using all these, but... not really. :D You don't have to go to the same extremes I did, just pull from your not-brand-new supplies and join us! Be sure to check out all the great makes from the Inkspirational team, too. 

Supplies: (smile) Neenah white & Papertrey Ink soft stone cardstock, Winnie & Walter In Bloom: Ashlee's Rosie Posies & Altenew Halftone Smile stamps & dies, many many Altenew inks, Altenew Create-a-Wreath & Winnie & Walter Katharine cutaway dies; (warm thoughts) Neenah white Cardstock, Strathmore watercolour paper, American Crafts patterned paper, Concord & 9th Shine Bright & Unity/Jillibean Soup Watermelon Gazpacho Soup stamps, Versafine onyx black & Archival black inks, Wow clear embossing powder, Zig markers, Sizzix grid embossing folder, MFT blueprints 24 sentiment banner die; (Easter) Neenah white and Recollections purple cardstock, Waffle Flower Welcome Spring, Impression Obsession clouds background & Simon Says Stamp Essential Greetings, Versafine onyx black, tumbled glass distress & Brilliance pearlescent orchid & lavender inks, Hero Arts sparkle embossing powder, Copic markers, Waffle Flower Welcome Spring, Paper Smooches Borders 1 & MFT stitched rounded rectangle dies, icicle Stickles, pop dot tape; (grumpy cat) Neenah white & desert storm cardstock, American Crafts Hip Hip Hooray patterned paper, Katzelkraft Les Chats Russe, Taylored Expressions Grouchy Grumplings & Hero Arts text background stamps, Archival black & Papertrey Ink fine linen ink, Copic markers, Memory Box Big Word Pop Curve die, pop dot tape