You're A Mean One Mr. Grinch - Paper...

Hi Friends and Fellow Crafters! I hope everyone has been enjoying the possibilities the New Year is bringing to us all! We have started to take down our Christmas decorations and that has made me feel kind of sad. Our front yard is now a wasteland. No more lighted deer or spiral trees, no little white ducks, no gigantic snow globes, soldiers or Snoopy santas (yes, I like the blow up decorations and I won't apologize for the pure joy they bring me! Ha-ha!) no colored lights on the bushes and porch. It's a sad sight. I needed a pick me up and quick! I was rummaging through my scrapbook papers, which always makes me happy, and found some paper from when I first started scrapbooking. I can still remember picking it up in AC Moore and knowing that I had to have it. I took it home, couldn't figure out what to do with it, and sent it to the wasteland that is my paper stash. It hasn't been seen since November of 2007. Until yesterday. I love all things Dr. Seuss, and the Grinch is by far my favorite. I think what happened to this poor piece of EK Success love was, being so new to scrapbooking, I had no clue what to do with this paper. It wasn't a solid color, it wasn't even a print, it was a paper with a theme design. I still am not sure how to describe these papers. LOL! I know, I was clueless on how to design with it. You know these papers, the ones that have quotes or designs, like my Grinch paper. I've picked up papers like this before and then stored them all away. I must have found 10 different papers like this in just one paper pile, oops, I mean stack. I then decided that I had to use the paper, and issued a challenge to my fellow Using My Stash thread members. Create something from your stash using a paper or even an embellishment that you have had since, well, forever! So I set the Grinch on my table and looked at him. I took some lights down from my windows and looked at him. I them turned to my little curio cabinet and a light bulb appeared over my head. I should use the paper to showcase my collection of Grinches. I have bigger pieces around for Christmas, but most of my favorites are ornaments my beloved Aunt Dorothy gave me very year starting in 1997 until she passed away in 2009. My DH has picked up where she left off, and gets me something Grinch related now. My sweetie...

I took a few pictures, printed out the one I liked, and left it next to the paper. I looked at it, and walked away. I was still befuddled as to how to use the paper! Four and a half years into paper crafting and I was drawing a blank on it. LOL! Then my son did something that I was too blind to consider, he dropped a bling star on the corner of the paper and walked away. This time I stayed and started the page. Everything is from my stash. The cardstock is Recollections. The ribbon at the bottom of the page is from Prima. I picked it up on clearance in Michael's a couple of years ago. I used my Martha Stewart Snowflake Punches create  the picture border. I added some bling from my stash to the snowflakes. I still have issue using these punches. I always end up having spaces and gaps on the sides. I covered up on gap with a Grinch I had printed out from Michael's The Knack last year. I colored him with copics. I used some Crinkled ribbon that I got from scrapinkris on etsy to anchor the Grinch down and cover the unfinished bottom. Kris is one of the DT members for the Cricut Blogs and her Crinkled Ribbons are gorgeous. I was glad I ordered them before my spending ban. LOL! I was surprised at how much a difference the ribbon made. See the pics below:

Grinch with the ribbon anchor

Grinch without the ribbon anchor

I also used the Crinkled ribbon to make a bow, then I cut a heart tag from Tags, Bags, Boxes and More to use as a journaling tag. I attached it with a link from 7 Gypsies. I used my Sophie Cartridge to make the doilies that I used to embellish the bottom of the page. The green swirls are brad that I have also had since 2007. They came from QVC, back in the day when QVC still had scrapbooking shows.

I used Distress Ink on the cuts, then added some Ice Stickles to the edges. I also added a little sparkle to the Grinch that is part of the page with the Ice Stickles. Finally, I added two more stars to the one my son dropped on the paper that started the layout.

Considering I really had no idea what to do with the paper for over 4 years, I think the layout turned out ok.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today! Why not dig through your old papers and create something too!

Happy Crafting!

Colleen