Those little round coins up there are the combination of several things I wanted to tackle in January: using up my stash, busting through some paper scraps, and working on loving myself more!
So of course, as many of you know now, I issued myself the Just Stash January Challenge. If this is all news to you, just click here. Even more amazing, a number of INCREDIBLY talented artists joined me! I am humbled and gobsmacked! There are monetary benefits to this challenge, but there is also somehow always a magical push to my inspiration. I ALWAYS seem to come up with some new ideas during this time!
As part of this process, I decided I should start taking a really stern look at what exactly is in my stash. While most things are fairly organized and I have a pretty decent mental running inventory, there was one section that had gotten away from me: the paper scrap stash. It was a little "out of sight, out of mind" for me. I'd trim my scraps, toss them in a box or a hanging folder with other scraps of that color, and move on. I noticed one day that the box was sort of overflowing. I blamed the box for being too small and flat, but I decided to organize the scraps just to see what I was working with. This was the result:
Whoops. Ok, maybe the problem had gotten a little out of hand.... But I couldn't bear to just start tossing indiscriminately. I definitely remembered all the pretty paper scrap cards I'd seen people make over the years. But I also wanted to do something different.
At this same time, I'd been thinking about self care and self love, things I'm not great at and vowed I would work on this month. Looking over my stamps, I noticed that a lot of sentiments could be self love related: you're awesome, you rock, even love you (if you underline the "you" for emphasis). In a moment of kismet, I noticed the Hero Arts Hero Greetings Mini Messages Stamp Set. I'd only used one sentiment off this little set and decided I needed to rectify that very soon (as in right now). In no time at all, I'd decided a little bag full of self love reminders would be perfect!
Making them was SO easy! First I picked a patterned paper for the back of the tokens and glued it to a piece of white cardstock.
Next, I placed it in my stamping platform, white side up, and spaced out four sentiments. I inked with a pink ink and stamped them down.
I then punched them out with a 1" hole punch (probably the physically hardest part of this project). I inked the edges, which gives them sort of a wood slice look, but I also left one uninked so you could see how that looks.
You can whip out a bunch of these in really no time at all! Just throw them into a drawstring bag (this came as part of a gift set ages ago) and pull one out whenever you need a smile! They are thick enough, you could potentially even carry one in your pocket all day! I think they would also make a great gift! Just make a little explanation tag to go with it!
Let me know if you make a version of these! I feel like there is so much more that can be done with this idea!