In Praise of Cardstock!

Hello, Memory Bound friends!  
I hope your week is off to a great start! It's about to get even better because we have a BIG CARDSTOCK SALE this week! Stop in December 11-13 and buy 20 sheets of cardstock...and we'll give you 10 FREE! That's an awesome deal for all paper crafters!

I've always been a huge cardstock fan. My blog is called Of Cats and Cardstock in honor of two of my favorite things! In fact, if I could only have ONE material to craft with, it would be cardstock...I love it that much! Sure, I love patterned paper, but I tend to use it in small increments. My friends will tell you that I can stretch a sheet of patterned paper for a very long time! But cardstock? I go through it like water, so I buy my most frequently used colors in large quantities.

Here are a few examples of projects I've made almost completely with cardstock! Click on the photos for a closer look.

This is one of the cards I created for our December tool demos. There are only two narrow strips of patterned paper across the bottom of the card. The card base and green piece (made with the Mini-8 Punch) are cardstock. The embossed gray cardstock strip provides textural interest.
 

 Remember this little guy from last Valentine's Day? He was made completely from cardstock.
 

 Katie loves cardstock, too! This is one of the great cards she created for our recent Christmas Card Extravaganza class, and it's almost completely made of cardstock.
 

 Here's a layout created entirely from cardstock! I especially love how neutral cardstock helps the reader focus on the photos. Cardstock always plays a supporting role -- never drawing attention away from the most important things on your page!

 

  This layout is almost completely made from cardstock, except for a few tiny bits of patterned paper.

 

This page is made entirely from cardstock. I printed the text directly on my background cardstock, then cut 3 blocks of cardstock to match the kids' shirts. If color is an issue, cardstock always comes to the rescue!

There's no patterned paper to be found in this page, either. The photo at left (with the striped comforter) provides a pattern and color scheme, so I chose solid cardstock to support it. Using cardstock for die cutting and punching also allows you to customize your page. In this instance, the title letters were die cut from cardstock, and the punched cardstock dots provide a contrast to the otherwise straight lines found on the page.

Here's another layout made completely from cardstock. When working with distance photos, it can be difficult to find patterned paper that doesn't distract from the small subjects. Again...cardstock to the rescue! In this example, I embossed the small piece of gray cardstock for textural interest.

I could go on and on about the wonders of cardstock! Be sure to stop in December 11-13 and stock up for the New Year of crafting. Unlike Christmas cookies (ahem!)...one can never have too much cardstock!
Happy crafting!
Janet