Beware of Tutorials

I love reading through the various tutorials that I find, both online and in my inbox. But sometimes they can mean a lot of work. Not that that’s a bad thing necessarily, but in this case it meant nearly two weeks of work.

Not long ago, Operation Write Home posted a tutorial on using one 6 x 6 paper pad until it was all used up. Kristie did a wonderful job, creating 24 beautiful cards from one paper pack.

I had some 6×6 pads and decided I’d give it a try. I picked the one I happened to like the least, just in case my efforts didn’t prove as fruitful as Kristie’s. (You know, if it might end up in the circular file, then don’t use the good stuff!)

I used “Dilly Dally” by Miss Caroline/My Mind’s Eye. I picked a few sheets of coordinating solid cardstock and set to work. This is my starting point.

I added a couple sheets of black along the way in addition to my own A2 card bases (mostly white).

In the tutorial, Kristie made several cards using the same sketch, ending with about a half-dozen different designs. I started out on that path, but quickly went looking for other sketches to create my cards. In the end, most are unique with only a few similar cards – some that turned out especially nice.

Anyway, I finally quit after completing 32 cards. Whew! (Like I said: a lot of work.) So without further ado, here are the cards I made in the past two weeks:

                               

Yes, it was a lot of work. Yes, I had a great time doing it. I still have a few pieces that might be big enough to use somewhere, but not enough different sheets to do anything worth while. Here’s what is left over from that original paper pad:

It’s very rare that I “use up” something, but that’s exactly what I did with this project. And it feels good to have done that. However, I’m ready to work with other colors and patterns after two whole weeks of nothing but these.

The round sentiments used on some of the cards came from Pinterest. Unfortunately, I didn’t re-pin the link so I can’t share that here. I downloaded the file and printed it a couple times to get all I needed for this project. (If you want a copy, let me know and I’ll email it to you.)

Most, if not all, of these cards will be sent to Operation Write Home to be shipped off for use by our troops serving overseas.

So that’s what I’ve been doing. It’s also why I haven’t entered any challenges, lately. But now that this project is completed, I intend to return to entering card challenges online.

Thanks for stopping by. Happy crafting.