Scraps + Tool Card Challenge

So when I first read about this challenge, I thought to myself, "Oh dear." Cards are definitely not my forte, and tools? Considering that I debated on purchasing a Crop-A-Dile for a good year, you could say I'm not so much of a tool buyin' gal.

What do I do when I get out of my element? I go to my old crutches: horizontal strips, and my Silhouette machine. :)

This first card is made with a mixture of the Sonoma County and Dear Diary kits. I used a small artisan label shape from another design in my Silhouette downloads to make the nested spot for the sentiment to layer on top of.

And for this card (made with the Very Virginia kit), I did horizontal strips again, but got a little wild and crazy with making one strip shorter and cutting a notch out of the side. On top of that I adhered a cute little birdie on a branch I cut out with my Silhouette machine, and then inked & roughly traced around.

That's my trick when I get out of my box- go to some old stand-bys that help me not feel too overwhelmed, and incorporate it into the challenge so that it still looks like "me." :)