Tips & Techniques Tuesday: Garbage to Glittery Goodness

Hello everyone, Cathy here from the ATS Design Team with a bit of a Tip and a Technique to share with you today. The post is photo heavy, so I apologize if it takes a moment to load for you.

I was a re-purposer, recylcer, re-whatever-you-want-to-call-it long before it was hip. I'd spend hours with my grandma and mom being creating with whatever supplies we could find around the house. I still carry that passion and have a hard time throwing things away that I 'might' be able to use for something. My husband has tried to convert me into more of a thrower, but I'll never give up my 'maybe someday' stash. The project I'm sharing today uses two items that were destined for the recycling bin. Then I had an 'aha' moment and took them to my studio.

I know I'm not the only one who receives more junk mail than good mail. I'm sad to say that in this electronic world the only 'real' birthday cards I receive are from credit card companies and my insurance agent. Here's a pic of two such garbage destined items. A postcard from a local garden center and a birthday card from a clothing company. 

The fronts were beautiful but the back and inside show the advertising.

I realized they were too pretty to toss away and I could use them for quick and easy card creations by adding a bit of Stickles.

I started with the full card.

I used 3 colors of Stickles on the bow (purple in the darkest spots, lavender in the mid-tone spots, and icicle in the highlights).

Here's a close up so you can see the Stickles glittery goodness better. 

I used my free form squiggle technique over the sentiment, first with Ranger Glossy Accents and then used Frosted Lace Stickles on some of the swoops. 

The store logo and flower image were on the back of the card. I used Frosted Lace Stickles to outline the flower shape.

I let things dry overnight just to be safe. The cardstock is quite shiny and I didn't know it that would affect the drying time. It did buckle a bit from the amount of Stickles I'd added to the bow, but I knew it would be trimmed and mounted an another piece of cardstock so I could iron things out.

I trimmed down the pieces I wanted and quickly put them together into a new creation. The gift was trimmed, mounted on matching purple cardstock and then popped up over a funky hounds-tooth cardstock. The photo doesn't show it, but the hounds-tooth is glittered on all the white squares. 

For the inside of the card I matted the happy birthday sentiment and adhered it with glue dots over the existing logo and text. I trimmed out the back panel, added a few layers of the scraps and called it completed.

The second garbage destined piece was even easier to do. The image was so pretty, all I did was pile up the Stickles on the natural elements. The Stickles I used were: Magenta, Yellow, Starry Night, Tropical Tangerine, Mystic Green, Paprika, Thistle, Pink, Patina, Lime Green, and Platinum.

I worked from the middle out to the edge so I wouldn't plop my hand in wet Stickles. If you are worried about smudges, you could let each color dry before adding the next. The good thing about using advertisements is they are usually printed on a high gloss cardstock. I had a few oops but was able to wipe them right off and no one will be the wiser. Well, if I hadn't just told you. LOL.

Here's a close up so you can see the massive amounts of Stickles I used to overlay the existing photo.

I left the open grassy area as is. I wanted to give the eye a spot to rest.

Once the Stickles were dry, I just trimmed the postcard down to size, matted it on a purple cardstock and popped the panel up on a glittered cardstock base. The only addition was a die cut butterfly that was in my stash. I layered a vellum butterfly over the green cardstock butterfly for interest.

It really can't get much simpler than that and now I have 2 up-cycled cards that had been destined for the garbage and are now glittery goodness.

I encourage you to use your crafter's eye when you are sorting through the stack of junk mail, you might be inspired to repurpose some items. With a bit of Stickles you can take junk mail to new heights!

Thanks for stopping by, check out your mailbox for fall themed postcards and flyers. You could alter them with Stickles and join in our Fall Harvest Linky Party going on now.