Paper Trail Blog Hop - Dreamin'

Welcome to the November Paper Trail blog hop. Thanks for stopping by. If you've arrived here from Mary's blog, you are in the right place. Don't worry if you are starting here - this hop is circular so you can start anywhere!

Now, let's get to the paper. I have been dreamin about this paper! It is the first pack that I bought from the new idea book, and I love it. I did the workshop and created a bunch of layouts (including this one). So for this month's hop I decided to create some cards instead. Cards are often daunting to me but I've found a few strategies that help me:

1. Make a few (or more than a few) cards at a time - even if you don't need them right now, you will someday!
2. Use similar (or identical) products - after all, if they work once, they will work again and the recipients aren't likely to notice.
3. Don't rely only on your brain (or Hallmark) for inspiration. I love to use CTMH's current idea book as a jumping off point.

When I sat down to create these cards I gathered my paper, kraft cardstock bases (4.25x5.5 standard size) the Dreamin' workshop stamp set, Colonial White Waxy Flax and some buttons from the blue assortment. I flipped through the idea book starting at the back and the tag card created using the Wicked stamp set (August SOTM) caught my eye (p 139). Here is the card I created inspired by the one on page 139:

On top of my kraft base, I added some Goldrush cardstock and B&T paper from scraps leftover from my layouts. The dandelion image is from the workshop stamp set. A little bit of waxy flax and one perfectly sized button, and I was very happy with the result.

Although my base was the same, my supplies were the same and my source of inspiration was the same, the other two cards look distinctly different.

I love working with what is already on my desk. This card takes advantage of the zip strip on one of the B&T papers and once again utilizes the workshop stamp set, waxy flax and button. I modified the design from a smaller square card I found on page 79. Can you see the resemblance?

I also created this one:

I plan to use it for a friend's birthday (happy coincidence I was already making cards.) For this one I had to supplement my supplies a bit. I dug into my embellishment bag and found a CTMH Just Blooms flower from the Big Pinks collection (now retired.) Like the two previous cards, this one took its design from a card in the Autumn/Winter idea book. Can you find the card? I will randomly choose one commenter with the correct answer to win a small prize.

There is more Dreamin' to see. Enjoy the rest of the posts, and start by hopping on over to Vicki's blog to see what she's created.