Card of the Week: The One Pad Challenge Week Ten

After 10 weeks of making cards from one pad of patterned paper, I am finished.

Before I talk about what I loved and learned from my One Pad Challenge, I want to show you the final four cards that I made.

This small happy birthday card is so simple, but I love that.

Card Base: Recollections; Patterned Paper: Basic Grey; Cardstock: Bazzill; Die Cuts, Buttons: my craft stash; Sentiment Font: Burst My Bubble; Ink: Ranger Inks; Adhesive: Scrapbook Adhesives, Glue Dots

Enjoy life.  I could not agree more.

Card Base: Recollections; Patterned Paper: Basic Grey; Cardstock: Co'ordinations; Rub-On: American Crafts; Die Cut: Penny Lane; Button: my craft stash; Ink: Ranger Inks; Adhesive: Scrapbook Adhesives

Another happy birthday card using one of my favorite designs - the grid.  I love grid cards – so simple and clean.  I also really liked this combination of papers and made several cards using them throughout this challenge.  

Card Base: Recollections; Patterned Paper: Basic Grey; Cardstock: Bazzill; Bird: Jillibean Soup; Button: my craft stash; Sentiment Font: Comic Sans MS; Ink: Ranger Inks; Adhesive: Scrapbook Adhesives, Quickie Glue

Finally, a very feminine card for someone special.  

Card Base: Recollections; Patterned Paper: Basic Grey; Cardstock: Bazzill; Border Punch: Fiskars; Rub-On: Black River Designs; Flower: Jillibean Soup; Button, Floss: my craft stash; Ink: Ranger Inks; Adhesive: Scrapbook Adhesives, Glue Dots

Ten weeks ago I posed this question when I introduced my One Pad Challenge:   

How many cards  can a card maker make from one pad of patterned paper?

And the final count (drum roll, please) is 28 cards and 5 tags.

These are the scraps that I have left.  I am giving them to my girls who will likely tape them all to one piece of construction paper in under five minutes.

I am so happy with the outcome of this challenge.  

I made many more cards and tags than I originally thought that I would.      

Working with the same beautiful paper every week was such fun.  And, like I’ve said before, with my papers already selected and laid out on my table, my card making time was incredibly focused – more card making and less time spent rooting around for supplies. 

I also felt creatively challenged as the paper pieces that were remaining became smaller and there were fewer patterns to choose from.  I was forced to move out of my comfort zone in terms of putting different papers together and try other unique combinations in order to make the most of what was left. 

I also made quite a few tags in this challenge.  I know there were only five in total but that is a lot for me.  I sometimes find working on such a small canvas difficult in that I want there to be detail, yet don’t want the tag to become too cluttered.  I am very happy with how these five tags turned out.  

But the best outcome of this challenge is that my stash of cards has grown so much.  I have so many cards now in my cupboard ready to be given to family and friends.  I love giving handmade cards (not a huge surprise, I'm sure); they are just that little something extra to make someone feel special.  

I have truly enjoyed this card making experience over the last 10 weeks and am glad that I decided to challenge myself in this way. 

And I hope you have enjoyed seeing what I have come up with every week.

If you have any final thoughts or comments on this challenge, please tell me. I would love to hear what you think.

(To see what I created over the entire 10 weeks of this challenge, click the "One Pad Challenge" box on the sidebar)