I just ADORE these scaled down paper pads! The perfect size for cardmaking…these designs are the 12×12 papers perfectly scaled down to approximately 1/4 the size and come in great manageable sizes to work with for smaller projects. Now this entry is a little different than most of mine. It is actually going to focus on a few different companies instead of just the one product I usually do. Why? Because lately their have been quite a few fabulous paper companies releasing there designs in this way. It is such a brilliant idea and makes so much sense.
Have you ever found a gorgeous 12×12 patterned paper and found it just did not work for a small project or card design. For the past few years, I have mainly been designing cards and small altered projects. Being a patterned paper addict…I just love the stuff… it would be so frustrating when I found I could not make that large paper work. If you have a beautiful 12×12 paper with a large image on it…using it on a smaller area…you need to crop most of the design off. Of course…the image is no longer recognizable and so it just doesn’t work. These papers were designed specifically for the scrapbooker in mind. Now take this same paper and scale it down for 1:4 scale and see what happens! A paper that works perfectly for designs for cardmaking. Yay! It didn’t take me long to be sold on the idea!
Now I must admit…the first time I saw a 6×6 patterned paper pad it was about 4 years ago in Michael’s. K & Company had released it for cardmaking in their Life’s Journey line. Beautiful vintage style papers in a 6×6 size. Now I was a scrapbooker at the time and he he…I thought to myself…what on earth would you do with that?! Who would want to make CARDS?! LOL Unbelievable, right?! 🙂 Never say never, girls! It always comes back to haunt you!
I actually didn’t see 6×6 paper pads on the market again until last year. Now I’m not saying they weren’t there…I’m just saying if they were there…I didn’t see them. Last year Basic Grey started releasing some of their fabulous newer paper lines in a 6×6 format. Loving Basic Grey…I was instantly hooked! They were perfect for me! I quickly bought up Romani, Perhaps, Lilly Kate, Scarlet’s Letter, and other, right up to their newest release, the absolutely fabulous Figgy Pudding.
Over the past few months, other companies as well have been releasing scaled down paper pads. Daisy D’s has a fabulous line of 5.5″ square swatches. These swatches are double-sided with a fabulous pinked edge to resemble fabric swatches. Hence the name. 😉 Also from Daisy D’s, the just released Holiday 8×8″ paper packs of Snowflakes and Holly, and Paisley’s and Sugarplums are fabulous to work with as well!
Cosmo Cricket, another of my favorite paper companies, released some beautiful 8×8″ packs of paper in the Little Boy and Little Girl lines. These were fabulous to design with and very flexible. You don’t need to limit these papers to little boy and girl design…I’ve used them with just about any kind of project you can think of. Last week, I just received my order of their latest 8×8″ release, Wonderland. I just flip for this paper. Last year Cosmo Cricket released this lien in 12×12 format and I just loved it. I was so excited to have quite a few designs published using this line. This season, the 12×12 format is no longer available but it IS available in this 8×8 size. With even more patterns added to the package, I couldn’t be happier! A few extra great features of this paper…this patterned paper is extra thick and double-sided. I love how the packs come with stickers and journaling cards as well. Beautiful!
Soooo….what exactly can you do with this smaller sized paper? It is perfect for many things. Here are a few I’ve used it for…
- Cards, cards and more cards!
- covering mini frames
- matting in scrapbook layouts
- smaller size scrapbooks and gift albums…Basic Grey’s 6×6 paper covers their new chipboard min-albums perfectly!
- altering Christmas ornaments
- background mat in frames
If that hasn’t enabled you…
- the pads are so easy to store and work with
- less waste than cutting into a larger sheet
- shipping is less
- very inexpensive…affordable to have many different lines
Where to get them…
You may be able to purchase these scaled down paper packs at your local scrapbooking stores. Unfortunately, because of a limited ability to store inventory, many of these stores only carry the 12×12 format. I have purchased all my Basic Grey, Cosmo Cricket and Daisy D’s scaled down paper packs from Jacksonbelle Embellishments. Other on-line stores may also be a good source such as Flourishes which carries some of the 6×6 Basic Grey paper pads.
Have you used any of these great scaled down paper packs? What do you think? I’d love to hear from you! If you liked this {C’est Bon} entry, you may want to check out others that you have missed. Just click on the C’est Bon category at the top under the title. Please note: I am not affiliated with any of these paper companies. This entry is just to share some of my favorite products…ones I think are good, {C’est Bon} 🙂
Thanks for stopping by and have a fabulous week!
Some more samples using scaled down paper packs…
