Welcome to the final installment of Same Set Syndrome, the hop group who uses the same supply from a same manufacturer to show how many styles and varieties of cards you can make from that one supply, all while supporting the small craft companies in the industry. You should have arrived here from Sharon Luska, and at the bottom of this post I link you to LeeAnn Mckinney who is after me.

This month is very special for a couple reasons. Not only is it the last hop month for the gals in Same Set Syndrome… but we are showcasing Scrapping For Less, owned by my friend Teresa Russell of the blog Fresh and Renewed. Little did we know when we picked Teresa’s business to showcase that before the SFL month Teresa would decide to retire and close the shop! But unlike other sad closings in the industry, Scrapping For Less isn’t closing due to lack of support… its actually a happy decision for Teresa to be able to spend more time with family and friends and enjoy retirement!!! As the supply for the month, Teresa selected for us a paper pad called Frosty Gnomes. Teresa is also giving out 2 goodie bags on her channel so be sure to check that out!!! And if you leave a comment on each stop of the hop, you’ll be entered in the grand prize from the Same Set Syndrome hops!

For my project, I opted to “Kill a Paper Pad” and use the whole thing in one project, making as many cards as I could from the pad. This time around for the sake of time and mass production, I opted to use the same layout for nearly all the cards which helped speed my decision making, yet provided just enough change in colors and products to keep me from getting too bored. Have a look at my big ‘ol pile of cards:

Now, I could have stretched this pad even further if I had allotted more time to the project but life gets crazy this time of year, and 2020 hasn’t helped, so for each 6×6 piece of paper, I was able to create at least 2 cards, totaling 31 cards!!! 3 of each design, plus a bonus card made from scraps! Not bad, eh? Are they all my favorites, no. But they will bring a smile to the face of someone in a nursing home, or a teacher at school, or one of hubby’s coworkers. And, I was able to bust them out in just a few hours of work over 2 days!

“How?!?”, you ask? Because I learned a trick from Jess @ Jess Crafts on how to get a lot of cards from one pad by using the paper wisely. There are a bunch of ways to do it (you *really* should check out her channel and blog if you aren’t already a fan of hers!), because she is developing 1 sheet wonders to show more ways than the 1 I used here, which is cutting at 5.25″ in one direction, leaving a .75″ strip, then cutting the big piece down to a 4″ card front and a 2″ scrap that can be combined with another 2″ piece to make a full card 4″ card panel. Sometimes the pattern is busy enough you don’t even see the seam, other times I choose to cover it with a strip of paper or make them slightly smaller to create 2 panels. There are usually 2 sheets of each pattern in a pad, so you get 3 card fronts and 2 strips from every pattern! And with just a few of those strips and 1 stamp, I was able to create card #31, like a bonus card and now I have fewer scraps to save or trash! I haven’t embellished them yet with Nuvo drops or epoxy dots or Stickles. Right now they are mail friendly and if I donate them to a charity I want to make sure they meet any requirements they have. I can always add doodads later to dress them up! Let’s take a look at some of my favorites from this Kill a Paper Pad session:

Supplies used

• stitched circle dies from Simon Says Stamp
• the Snowflake 5 die from Impression Obsession
• a reindeer cut file from a Miss Kate Cuttables set called Flying Reindeer set (#68894)
• ‘Tis the Season Christmas Tree Silhouette cut file (#280104)
• Tree Card Silhouette cut file (#102412) .
• I created the 8 point snowflake file myself to match the paper to use on the final set of cards I created. The sentiments were hand cut with my paper trimmer.
• I used random cardstock (blue, red, kraft, white, shimmer paper in white, and vellum… all from my stash for card bases, mat layers, and elements
• The only patterned paper was from the SFL Frosty Gnomes pad which includes 2 designs of faux glitter paper.
• The Season Greetings stamp is from Jane’s Doodles Driving Home From Christmas set.
• I LOVE YOU SNOW MUCH is from Jane’s Doodles Winter Fun set
• Merry Christmas stamp was from the Recollections Christmas set #606947
• Inks used we Versafine Red, VersaClair Morning Mist, Simon Says Stamp Khaki, and Simon Says Stamp Caribbean Blue.

This is only the 2nd time I’ve killed a paper pad, and I find it incredibly rewarding. I preferred my process last time better when I also incorporated old embellishments and ribbons into my cards, and the paper had more variation to keep me from getting bored. While I used the paper cutting technique then too, I had fewer cards with the same layout and I ended up with so much more variety. Check out this post if you would like to see my previous Kill a Paper Pad post using a Recollections pad. It includes links to follow up posts describing the challenges of using that paper and how I stretched the paper to make 35 cards!!!

Next on today’s hop is LeeAnn McKinney. Thanks for stopping by today and for joining us these last few months in the Same Set Syndrome hops!!!