10 on the 10th: Echo Park

It's mid-February...the time of year by which people often have given up on their New Year's resolutions.  That's why I sometimes decide not to make a New Year's resolution--who wants to deal with the stress of potentially messing it up???  :)  But I did make one this year, because I knew it would be easy to keep.  I vowed to use more of my older papers and scraps.

 
In order to make the goal more specific, I'm going to choose one "file" of papers (I organize my patterned paper into files, some by manufacturer, some by theme) each month and try to use items specifically from that file.  I'm not going to limit myself to only the papers in each month's file, nor am I going to worry about trying to use up all the papers in each file.  I'm just going to have fun and be creative.  For January I used my Echo Park file (pictured above).

I have a whole mix of different colors and patterns among my Echo Park scraps.  So, my first "plan of attack" was to choose a few color schemes that I like and make projects with those.

For this thank you card I chose "candy colors": berry pink, mint green, and buttercream yellow.  Yum!
 

Project 1: All stickers and patterned papers by Echo Park; cardstock by Wausau Paper; Distress Stain by Ranger; tulle by Wyla; embroidery floss by DMC.

Next I used a mix of sunny yellow and crisp blue for this baby card.  I added a bit of decoration to the envelope, too.
 

Project 2: label sticker & all patterned paper by Echo Park; Crate Paper tag used as template for tag on card; alphabet stickers by October Afternoon; epoxy swirl by EK Success; white pen by Ranger; black pen by Zig; corner rounder by Creative Memories; ribbon recycled from gift packaging.

And you've already seen this layout, for which I used a color scheme from Berry 71 Bleu.

Project 3: see previous blog post for supply list and details.

My next strategy for mixing and matching was to use similar patterns.  For the layout you see below, I used a mix of dotted prints (which reminded me of bubbles) and wave prints.
  

Project 4: all patterned papers & alphabet stickers by Echo Park; cardstock by Wausau Paper; stamp & ink by Hero Arts; pens by Zig; recycled envelope & postage stamp.

And with this layout, I combined a variety of chevron prints. 

Project 5: see previous blog post for supply list and details.

My final strategy was to choose one paper with a busy print, then use it to determine the other colors in the project.  For the card below, I drew my color scheme from the butterfly paper.  (I did end up covering some of the butterflies, but you can see the whole sheet of paper and its overall color scheme here, on the Echo Park site.)
 

Project 6: all paper by Echo Park; corner rounder by Creative Memories.

To make a card for my son, I matched Echo Park products to this old game card, which has a car-themed pattern.
 

Project 7: sentiment sticker and all patterned paper by Echo Park; vintage game card from ollapodrida.etsy.com; ink by Hero Arts.

For this New Year's card, I drew my color scheme from the hot air balloon paper.
 

Project 8: sticker negatives from Reminisce used as stencils; label sticker and ticket paper by October Afternoon; all other paper and stickers by Echo Park; green paint by Deco Art; orange paint by Plaid; glitter glue by Ranger; pens by Zig.

You've already seen the layout below.  For this layout, I started with the striped paper along the left side and built my color scheme from there. 

Project 9: see previous blog post for supply list and details.

I followed the same procedure for my tenth and final layout: I started with the striped paper and chose the rest of the colors based on that.

Project 10: sunburst patterned paper by Pink Paislee; kraft cardstock & all other patterned paper by Echo Park; die cut by October Afternoon; mini alphabet stickers by Lily Bee; large alphabet stickers by Creative Imaginations; corner punch by Creative Memories.

And there we have it--five cards and five layouts for a total of ten projects created in January!  During the month of February I'm working with My Mind's Eye products, and I'll post ten MME projects on March 10.