Monday, March 10, 2014

Craft Hoarders Anonymous: I Scream, You Scream



 A few months ago, my bloggy friend Marcie Rhys told me about a new challenge coming to town ... and it has to do with using your hoarded craft supplies! I need that. I think we all need that, right? 

The gracious hostess Gloria Stengel invited me to be a guest designer for the month of March for her new challenge Craft Hoarders Anonymous. Thanks Gloria! How fun and exciting!! This challenge is to make a project with a vintage or retro spin.


My first obsession with paper is right on this card. Postage stamps. My grandma (the same one who got me into crafting) gave me a great uncle's postage stamp collection when I was about 8 years old. It was the first of many collections for me. It lasted well into college*, until I saw an antique valentine at a stamp show. Then I got hooked on antique valentines and paper ephemera.

* see related, embarrassing story at the end of post

Anyway, I've got a billion postage stamps, a large majority of which are not worth a thing. I've been itching to use then on a project, and this challenge was just the nudge I needed.


I used some Mexican and Canadian stamps from the 70s and 30s for the ice cream scoops. If you have a piece of burlap lying around, you can use it to emboss like I did here on the ice cream cone. Here's a how-to post.

 
I've been loving the clean, fresh feeling of type. Very excited about the "f" from "for you" fitting into the bottom of the "A". And the cone in the middle of the sentiment to tie it in more. The patterned paper lining the inside is from Studio Calico Darling Dear.

Supply list:
Patterned Paper: Studio Calico (Darling Dear); We R Memory Keepers (Yuletide)
Dies: Papertrey Ink (Sweet as Can Be, block alpha uppercase); My Favorite Things (High-Rise Alpha Uppercase)


Challenge Rules are HERE. You can link your project using the Link Tool on the Craft Hoarders Anonymous Challenge Blog. Also, feel free to visit the Guest Designers and the Design to see what they have to share!


 
Thanks for looking!
-Kelly


* If you're interested, here's an embarrassing story on collecting stamps in college. Whatever I'm collecting, I'm very passionate about. For example, when I collected stamps in college, I subscribed to a postage stamp newspaper, I invested in hingeless mounts and re-mounted all of my stamps in my album, and I went to stamp shows with my husband (then-boyfriend). I never gave much thought to how I was the only woman at the shows, and probably the only person under age 80. I just loved it. In my last year of college when it was time to start interviewing for a job, I was lucky to get a lot of interviews since I was a pretty good student. At the end of the interviews when they would ask if there was anything else I would like them to know about me, I'd usually share several details about my stamp collecting hobby. With all the big interviews I landed, I thought it strange that I didn't have many job offers. Then, at the end of an interviewing seminar I attended, the professor laughingly said to avoid talking about obviously anti-social and nerdy activities
 
Like. Stamp. Collecting.

Thud. 

What a dummy. Thinking back, none of the interviewers ever seemed to follow up on that part of the conversation. Ah well. I ended up getting a good job where I stayed for 15 years until I had kids. And thinking back, that was the one interview I had where I didn't bring up stamps. Those interviews went so well that there wasn't time at the end for those dangerous open-ended questions. Hahaha!

18 comments:

  1. That's awesome! The stamps for ice cream is just genius! Love it!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Too funny! I collected stamps too, although I haven't attended a stamp show....still have a bunch in books in the attic. LOVE that you used the stamps as the pp for the ice cream though. That is so cool!

    ReplyDelete
  3. CUTE card Kelly, I LOVE ice-cream!! Do you think that would be suitable conversation in an interview LOL ;)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Adorable Kelly! I am so ready for ice cream!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Kelly, I love your clean fresh take on vintage. I'm so impressed with the perfection and whimsy of this design. Thanks so much for being a guest designer for Craft Hoarders Anonymous! I'm your newest fan!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Kelly, Kelly, Kelly, using the postage stamps to make ice cream? Thank God I was wearing my chin strap before I came to visit today! Genius to the max!! And your interview story was both charming (go you for being passionate about it!) and hysterical! I guess it would be considered anti-social wouldn't it?! Everything has a way of working out and this is another example of that. The one time you didn't talk about it, you landed a great job!! I wonder if any of the kids are interested in your collection? Hugs, Darnell

    ReplyDelete
  7. Oh my goodness I would've never guessed collecting stamps would prevent you from landing a job! Love your vintage ice cream cone and fabulous placement of sentiment. I'm gonna have to take a look at this challenge!

    ReplyDelete
  8. And now your passion is focused on your card making and it shows. Wonderfully inventive card, Using stamps for ice cream? Who but you would think of that - and make it work so beautifully.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Kelly, what a lovely card! Thanks for sharing your story about your stamp collection and job hunting. Thanks for joining Craft Hoarders Anonymous as a guess designer. You did a wonderful job on your card!

    ReplyDelete
  10. I enjoyed both, your funny story and your awesome card. I used to collect stamps too, but I never had the chance to go to a stamps show, how cool is that? TFS

    ReplyDelete
  11. OK. How clueless could an interviewer be, to interview you, and not hire you?! I'd hire you be a brain surgeon, atomic physicist, president of the United States; heck, why not God. You're creative and smart enough to have pulled off all of those, with one arm behind your back!

    Now down to business. Yay!!! You've been guest designer for CHACB. How brilliant were you, using those stamps? (I'm guessing they were among some of the larger in your collection.) Pretty soon, crafters across the country will be die cutting stamps, and putting them on everything.

    You must be loving the plethora of fonts these days. It's absolutely wonderful to have so many, and in dies too. Combining them in pleasing arrangements is not as easy as you make it look, but you make it all look easy and obvious, and that's what sets you apart from the rest of the pack. Scrap Hoarders couldn't have had a better guest artist to help kick things off.

    P.S. I've been seeing every one of your creations, and have needed to curtail the time I dedicate to looking and commenting. (Can't figure out how you do it all. You must have a very strong compass, and an innate sense of efficiency.) Thank you again for sharing your enormous talent and insights; I savor every post, even if I can't stop to tell you each time what your shared creativity means to me.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I am in absolute awe with how you used the postage stamps. I started collecting them more than 30 years ago and have stamps coming out my ears. Now all I am thinking about is how can I use them like you did. Oh my! So happy to see you guest designing for Craft Hoarders Anonymous. Well deserved :)

    ReplyDelete
  13. Adore your card. It's amazing!!! And I'm still chuckling about your stamp/job interview story. Thanks for the inspiration and the laugh!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Excellent use of your hoarded stamps...they look marvelous.

    fun story :)

    ReplyDelete
  15. This is a fabulous card, and I love your stamp collecting story. I thought it would have a different ending. I thought that all those interviewers would have been more interested in your stamp collecting, and you would have gotten tons of job offers. Well, what do I know--and I guess I have been out of the workforce too long.

    ReplyDelete
  16. I LOVE this! I have a "thing" for postal related projects. I love how you used those stamps! I really, really do.

    ReplyDelete
  17. It's a fabulous card! OMG! Now I know why I never get a job interview! LOL TFS

    ReplyDelete
  18. Your unexpected use of the postage stamps just made me smile all over my face. I am so happy to have you on board as our March Guestie! Your work is so fresh and wonderful. It is totally different from my work and it makes me so happy to view it and check out all of the tiny details of each card! Well done!

    ReplyDelete

I absolutely love reading comments. Thanks so much for stopping by and taking the time to leave one! - Kelly