Upcycled cards: All-occasion

It took me longer than I thought it would, but as I mentioned in my last post, today I'm going to share several all-occasion cards upcycled from store-bought greeting cards and product packaging.

Here are the two cards I started with. The floral thank-you card I've had for ages; I saved it because I knew it would be a great image to embellish and add on another card. The bright thank-you card is from last Christmas, and it provides plenty of opportunity to add some sparkle.

Additional supplies (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Sweet Little Sentiments
Paper: Whisper White, Basic Black card stock; Sheer Perfection Designer Vellum Stack
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories: Bermuda Bay sequin trim, Lime Green Stickles (Ranger), Glue Dots, Dimensionals

I trimmed down the card front a bit and added a few Bermuda Bay sequins to each flower. (I wished this photo showed the color better.) I wanted to embellish the leaves, so I used Lime Green Stickles to trace the stems and leaves in a broken line. I mounted that layer on a piece of patterned vellum and adhered them both to a Basic Black card base. (I made sure to place the adhesive behind the focal layer so it wasn't visible through the vellum.) I stamped the sentiment on a narrow strip of Whisper White card stock, trimmed the ends into points and layered it on Basic Black. Then I used Dimensionals to adhere that piece over the pre-printed greeting.

Additional supplies (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):
Paper: Real Red card stock
Accessories: Lucky Stars embossing folder, Basic Black baker's twine, primary rhinestones (Me and My Big Ideas), Clear Stardust Gelly Roll pen (Sakura), Corner Chomper (We R Memory Keepers), Dimensionals

Again I trimmed down the card front, and this time I also rounded the corners. I used a glitter pen to add sparkle to the white letters (t, a, k, y and u) and placed rhinestones over the dots printed on the background. For the card base I embossed a Real Red card with the Lucky Stars embossing folder. I wrapped Basic Black bakers twine around the card front three times and used Dimensionals to adhere the focal layer over the twine.

Over the summer I splurged and bought myself this tube of Lollia At Last lotion. It smells wonderful, and to top it off, it came in a beautiful package: a sunshine yellow box with a lacy laser-cut wrap. The wrap wasn't attached to the box -- and the piece with the product name wasn't attached to the laser-cut wrap -- so I knew it would be a great embellishment for card making.

Additional supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Chalk It Up to Love (August 2015 Paper Pumpkin kit), All Shook Up (December 2014 Paper Pumpkin kit)
Paper: Wisteria Wonder, Blushing Bride, Mint Macaron card stock
Ink: Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Masterpiece Ribbon Originals, pearls, Mono Multi liquid glue

I carefully trimmed the box wrap into three strips along the creases, which left me with three strips (the fourth piece, from the back of the box, was solid card stock printed with info). I chose three light colors of card stock for the card bases and adhered one lacy strip to each card using small dots of liquid glue. I covered the edges of the strips with a scalloped Chocolate Chip ribbon and stamped a border and sentiment on the cards with Chocolate Chip ink. For a final embellishment, I added a few pearls inside the laser-cut pieces and around the sentiment.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Paper: Whisper White card stock
Accessories: Smoky Slate chevron ribbon, Flower Fair Framelits and Mini Treat Bag Thinlits dies, rhinestones, metallic foil doilies, metallic silver thread, Dimensionals

Technically I don't know if I really upcycled the box, since it's still the same box,but I did make a pretty belly band for it. I started by wrapping the box with a length of Smoky Slate chevron ribbon. To make the flower, I die cut three of the same flower shape out of Whisper White card stock. I lightly spritzed them with water, crumpled them, gently opened them and let them dry. For the center of the flower, I die cut a small scallop circle from part of the left-over wrap; I love that is matches the color of the box exactly.

Once the white pieces were dry, I adhered them together with Dimensionals to make a layered flower. I glued the yellow piece in the center of the flower and added a rhinestone.

I cut a silver foil doily in half and used Dimensionals to adhere each each half to the back of the flower (there was about 1/2" of space between the pieces). I attached the flower to the ribbon with Dimensionals and used a small piece of silver thread to tie a die-cut "for you" onto the doily.

I have big plans to make at least a couple of cards tomorrow, so with a little luck and inspiration I'll have a few things to post next week. Thanks for stopping by!