SOS560: A Few of My Favorite Things

The new challenge at Shopping Our Stash is called, "A Few of My Favorite Things" and what we'd like you to do is make a card that uses two or more of YOUR favorite crafty ingredients... and make sure you tell us what they are and why. Sound like fun? I thought so, too! Though honestly, the hardest part for me was to focus in on just a FEW favorite things... 'cause I have lots, lol!

Pertaining specifically to this card/challenge, THESE are a few of my Favorite Things:

1. COLLAGE! Not a thing, as such, but a style that I always love, especially with lots and lots of layers and a combination of items that don't necessarily "go" together but I liked how they looked.

2. Stickers! All of the flowers here are from the Botanist's Sticker Anthology book that Stephanie gave me a year or two ago and despite lots of use, I still have loads left. If you love stickers and/or beautiful books, you should check out the DK Sticker Anthology series.

3. Washi Tape! I love all beautiful tape and LOTS of my faves are from Eyelet Outlet; but in this case, I broke out the BIG guns...49 and Market's 4" wide (four inch wide!) Spectrum Sherbet Lace Washi. Again, I've had this for several years and I'm maybe only about halfway through the eleven yard roll.

4. Vintage Goodies! Some years ago, I realized that I have sooooooo much vintage paper, the only way to even make a dent in it was to start my own Etsy Shop (it's called Just Enough Stuff, just sayin') and make themed packs of vintage and found collage ephemera, including illustrations, sheet music, foreign text, nature images, and lots of other stuff. On this card, there's part of a map and the map index, some sheet music and a Georgian building; plus a strip of grey and purple bus tickets that my friend Heather brought back from South America.

5. Machine Stitching! Again, a technique rather than an item, but I do love stitching on cards. Mostly, I just like the look and the texture, but in the case of collage cards, when there are lots of items that go right to the edge, stitching around the perimeter is quite useful, because you know that NOTHING is going to fall off or try to curl up. So it's win/win. I am also still in love with inked edges, and you can see that there's just a tiny bit of Frayed Burlap around the edge between the stitching and the card base.

6. BIG Cards! Kind of tangential, but I really do enjoy making larger-than-A2 cards. This one is A7 (about 5 x 7"); I also love A6's (6.25 x 4.75"ish) and 5.5" square cards. I expect this is because I'm somewhat of a Maximalist; also when it comes to collage, the images are whatever size they are and I hate to cut off too much so... (shrug) ...I sometimes make cards that are whatever size they turn out to be and then figure out the envelope issue later. :)

There are lots more inspiring cards from the Crew at SOS, and you can read about their Favorite Things as well. SOS560: A Few of My Favorite Things runs until the evening of Monday, November 17th and we'd love for you to join us!