Peel Offs - Using the waste

Ok so. I had a single sheet of seaside peel off motifs in silver. As you saw yesterday I, finally, years afterI actually did the motifs,used the 'positive' stickers by sticking them onto card and fussy cutting around them (erk it was thick and hard to cut, I suggest you use paper!) then using sticky foam pads to raise them from the background surface of the card. And entered the Less is More blog Week 291 Challenge (see yesterday's post for info about that.)

Last night I got a bit of tired toddlerism and then insomnia - couldn't settle to anything. So I decided to just look at the remaining bits of sticky silver pieces on the sheet and have a think about how they could be used. I have lost the fine motor skills I used to have, so sticking them onto paper or card and fussy cutting them was not viable, but I was a bit scared of just sticking them straight onto the background card. However, I followed Clementine Paddleford's excellent advice - 'never grow a wishbone, daughter, where your backbone ought to be' (which is something I saw on FaceBook this week incorporated into a poem by Sarah McMane in a post by A Mighty Girl that someone shared) - and manned up.

And started using a piece of very useful stuff that calls itself Application Tape - not sure if that's what it's normally called, it's a tacky sheet of clear plastic that you use to lift the peel offs so they don't deform, then use it to transfer them to the actual card you are making. Anyway super useful with words and also with negative waste bits to keep them in the right place. I use an actual porcupine quill (a friend used to go to Africa a lot and gave me a couple she found in the village there) cos it has a sharp pointy end great for picking things up, and a blunt end great for applying pressure to stick them down, and my bone folder to keep it all under control...

And after a few hours of looking at the sheet and then doing a card an hour, I am left with a couple of positive anchors, a ship's wheel and some negatives of shells. Look! Nearly all used up! That's all there is left! (I did follow the advice years ago from Helen Meighan at the Crafting Barn in Surrey to pull away the main waste plastic once I'd used the majority of positive shapes, makes it easier to see what's left!

Can I make one or more cards out of what's left? I'll have a think!

These cards are using the leftover 'negatives' after the actual seaside motif has been used, plus sentiments from yesterday's sheets. 

I managed to get another 5 cards out of that sheet, and may, with a bit of thought use up the extras on another card.

I scanned them cos didn't fancy holding the camera - but they are real 6" square cards, honestly!

I also scanned yesterday's cards using the actual fussy cut 'positive' peel off shapes, so I've got a proper record of what they look like so I can use them as inspiration in future.  Cos yesterday's pics were dreadful!

There's still another 2 cards to finish in the 'positives' but I need my ruler and scalpel and cutting mat for that. So not today. But all in all, I'm really pleased how many cards came out of that one sheet (plus sentiment sheets part used). And I don't think they look too naff at all! I think 15 cards plus possibly another one using the final leftover bits. Awesome destashing exercise!

[Edited to add - Transfer Tape or Transfer Sheets - you can still get them Ebay UK has them at 10 for £3.75 - same size as peel off sheets. You can use one piece over and over and over again. I used one 2x 3" piece for all my sentiments and negative bits, and it wasn't new. Probably time to chuck that bit though. Anyway here's a good video about using them- I use them for sentiments, negative bits and also complicated peel offs that are likely shift and deform if I try and take them off the backing paper unsupported.]