Affirmation Cards

Recently I joined a swap on UK Scrappers for Affirmation Cards. I wasn’t really sure what they were, but it sounded promising, so – as we do – I did a search on Google and found loads of them out there for sale. It did give me lots of ideas, although mine ended up nothing like (sigh….) the ones I found.

An affirmation card is basically a visual representation of a truth that you want to manifest in your life. Now that sounds a bit New-Agey but it’s really a cool concept: if you repeat something often enough, your brain begins to believe it. If you believe it, you can achieve it – as the saying goes. Anyway, I had so much fun making these cards (we are making three each for the swap) that I’m carrying on with a few affirmations of my own – just for me.

Here’s how I started. First, I decided on the concept and since there were three, I thought the lion, the tin woodman, and the scarecrow from Wizard of Oz seemed a perfect choice. They were all after traits that they already had, but didn’t believe they had: courage, heart, and intelligence respectively. So I typed up the sayings and printed them on cardstock, dug out my Wizard of Oz (by Clear Art Stamps) stamps, and started fishing through my scraps box.

Then I cut six 4”x6” pieces of cardstock from a 12”x12” piece of white cardstock. I glued the scraps (the swap instructions were that it was to be collage) onto the white cards and trimmed. Then I stamped the images of the tin woodman, lion, and scarecrow, coloured them with my ProMarkers, and cut them out. I also cut out the stamped affirmations (see the yellowish cardstock in the photo above), arranged them on the cards with the stamped images, and glued them all to the collaged card.

 

For the tin woodman, I wrote “Today I will open my heart to a new person or idea.”

 

 

 

 

For the scarecrow, I wrote “Today I will nurture my mind by reading or learning something new.”

 

 

 

 

For the lion, I wrote “Today I will reveal the courage that I know lives inside me.”

 

 

 

 

Yeah, they’re a bit schmaltzy or hokey, but lots of fun to do. For myself, I haven’t decided what affirmations to use yet, but it will probably concentrate on issues of food, eating, health, etc.

And as I finished these cards, I decided I’d reached my tipping point with my craft room and work space, so I reorganized a chunk of it. I took all the cropper hoppers off my desk and put them on a bottom shelf, though still within easy reach. Really, I did throw out a LOT of paper not long ago and have only bought about six sheets since then, but I think I need to do more:

I actually use my scrap boxes – or at least I’m trying to – more, so I cleared off some space on my writing table (which has sadly gone by the wayside this summer) and now it looks like this:

From top to bottom: Patterned paper scraps, solid colour cardstock scraps, and Stampin’ Up scraps (I used to be a demo). The two containers behind the three scrap boxes are for works in progress. The smaller one is my travel journal (almost done, then I can free up that box) and the larger one is for art journaling (which will never be finished…. it just goes on and on!) and contains magazine clippings and other oddball things to use in art journaling.

But now….voila! I have lots more space on my work table.

Still not perfect but lots, lots better. At least I have the things I use most often, such as my distress ink pads and ATG dispenser, right at hand. My well-intentioned husband keeps promising me a new (i.e. bigger) craft room by remodeling our garage or doing a loft conversion, but then we think we might just sell the house and buy another. Or win the lottery….the chances are about the same as ever doing a remodel, I fear.

And look at what’s left with nowhere to go—punches anyone?

I have no idea what I’m going to do with these, so watch this space.