Art Project: Scrapbook Collage Cards

On By benebellIn oracle deck, personal, personal spirituality, tarot community

The real reason this post is going up is because I want to show off my cute little arts and crafts project. Otherwise there is no other purpose to them. So permit me to flaunt and brag about my accomplishment. This is where you ooh and ahh, or at least pretend this matters to you. =)

Like, I’m not going to sell them or turn them into an oracle deck (although you totally can, and what a great idea that is!) so what am I going to do with these scrapbook collage art cards I made… oh, I know, flex about it on my personal blog.

I mean. They’re pretty cute, aren’t they? You can give me that much. =)

But I will try my best to force out a more meaningful message for the collective, something you might be able to get out of my personal arts and crafts dabblings. This is a really, really easy craft project you can do at home, and I’ll explain why I believe it’s worth your while.

If you have arthritis, there are arthritic scissors you can use, or invest in one of those sliding paper cutter things. And then instead of collaging with magazine cut-outs, do what I did and buy a ton of stickers. All you’ll be doing is collaging with stickers.

I joke that I spent $50 on stickers and scrapbooking supplies only to make about $10 worth of note cards. But of course we all know the true value of these note cards cannot be measured in dollars. =)

I started by using a paper cutter to cut random sizes of heavy cardstock paper (in this case I went with 350 gsm), then used a corner rounder cutter to round the corners.

I found some almost 20-year-old law review journals I had been stockpiling, traced the cards over the journal pages, and cut out the text. The journal page cut-outs were glued to cardstock via Elmer’s Craft Bond Repositionable glue sticks. (It’s the glue stick commonly recommended for scrapbooking.)

I went on Amazon and ordered a bunch of vintage stamp stickers and assorted flower stickers to “collage” the stickers onto the cards.

If you have arthritis and want to go the route of stickers, read the product description very carefully before you order. And read the reviews, too. Some of these sticker packets are of a quality that make them really hard to peel off their backings.

I ran searches in Amazon for Victorian and vintage stickers, then went with the cheapest options, which turned out to be a bad idea. You get what you pay for. Some of these stickers were really hard to peel off their backings.

You can also tweak this basic idea, be more organized about it, and design your own scrapbook-aesthetic collaged oracle deck. You might want to be more intentional with words or key phrases that you cut out of magazines and newspapers, and paste those keywords more prominently on the cards.

I didn’t exercise enough foresight or planning with mine, so I guess these are just going to become blank note cards. If and when I need to send stuff to friends and family, I’ll write on the back of these note cards.

Now for why I think this isn’t entirely a naval-gazing blog post… art therapy really works. When you’re feeling a little storm brewing inside, getting hands-on with paper crafts can help calm that storm.

Cutting, measuring, applying the gluestick help me to de-stress. They take my mind off the worry part of life and re-train the brain to focus. I try to stay patient and calm while I peel the backs off the stickers (this is actually really hard…). And when I succeed, that minor achievement readies me to be patient and calm for bigger tasks.

There’s something really healing and affirmative about transforming the chaos of random scrapbook pieces into a cohesive work of collage art. Almost like a metaphor, when you can organize that chaos into an intentional composition, you feel ready to organize life’s chaos into something more intentional and purposeful.

Not to mention, seeing the collage art come together rather immediately is so satisfying. It is the minor triumph I need that day to give me some momentum for tackling the bigger real life problems. The arts and crafts project energizes me. It calms and centers. I feel ready and confident to take on larger tasks.

I went nuts and purchased the scrapbook stickers, but you don’t have to. The entire project can be collage-only, upcycling old stuff, where you cut out the images from magazines.

And instead of being a doofus like me who buys faux stamp stickers, you can use actual used stamps. Cut the envelope around the stamp and float it in cool water for an hour. The stamp peels right off the envelope paper. Gently pat dry. Now they’re ready for gluing onto your collage art cards.

You can cut up old postcards you weren’t going to do anything with anyway. Or stain old letters or random mailings in coffee, sun-dry, and then use that as the background for the collage art.

Please tell me I’m not the only grown-up with a sticker collection…. because I have a sticker collection that’s decades old, stickers I keep hoarding but never do anything with. This is a great way to utilize some of those stickers you’ve been hoarding.

Seriously so satisfying to stand back and admire your own arts and crafts handiwork! Oops– that smaller mushroom collage one is upside down in the above picture.

Come to think of it, at a larger size, these collage works framed would make really nice interior decor! I mean like… the style of interior decor your grandmother would have in her home but still. Very cottage-core I would think.

30 thoughts on “Art Project: Scrapbook Collage Cards”

  1. tabithaweber

    So first off YOU AREN’T ONLY ONE WITH A STICKER COLLECTION! Lol Wow these are so beautiful! I’m the same way. To unwind or let go I love to color. Focusing on staying in the lines and thinking about what colors I wanna do is incredibly helpful at reducing stress. I cut the boarders off the first edition of the Star Tarot and rounded the corners and colored the sides so I know exactly what you mean. It was so therapeutic. I love this little project you have, not like you don’t have plenty! 😂💜

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            1. I’m 52 and have a sticker (coloring book, yarn, markers – if it’s a craft supply, I’ve probably got at least one of them in the house somewhere) collection and absolutely no shame or embarrassment admitting that I’ve lived past the age of 22 😂.

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                1. Mine, too! Well, hmm…it’s a close 2nd to knitting, for me, I suppose. But more immediately gratifying 🙂 And it’s fun to do with friends because you don’t have to think too hard and can carry on a conversation at the same time.

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                3. I learned watching VeryPink Knits on YouTube. She’s an incredible teacher and her videos are really well done and easy to follow. Her website is great and I’ve made several of her patterns. The world can always use another knitter! 🙂

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  3. Milinda

    These scrapbooked cards are fabulously fun. I’m 63 and have a sticker collection as well. Planner stickers galore. And lots of decorative stickers as well. Oh, those stickers that are hard to separate from their backing is especially hard with arthritis, sad to say.

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  4. Stephanie M.

    You are not the only one, by far. I also recommend sticker books by Sticker Studio, DK Books, Peter Pauper Press, and Odd Dot. All on Amazon and some used. No more finicky-peely-backs to deal with and they have all genres (Antiquarian, Mystical, Ocean, Bibliophile, Botanical, etc). LOVE this idea! 😀

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    1. Stephanie M.

      Doesn’t it? I have so much cardstock paper, stickers and ephemera by now that I could do this for days 😀 I’ve also always wanted to try my hand at making Oracle type cards and this sounds like a doorway for that too if one were so inclined. The possibilities are endless ✨️

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  7. You are ***not*** the only grown-up with a sticker collection! I even still use “good job!” and “well done!” smiley stickers… also your first paragraph reminded me of my family. We often finish something up and bring someone else into the room, calling across the house “okay! Come say oooh ahhh at this!!!” The person summoned accordingly arrives and says “oooooooh… aaaaahhhhh” 😂🎨🐌

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    1. Hahaha. I tried to do that with Hubby. Dragged him to the dining room table where I was cutting and pasting these note cards and invited him to ooh and ahh. He did not ooh and ahh so I had to resort to the blog.

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  8. Nikitta

    You cannot be serious…Benebell. How on Earth do you find time to do ALL these things….absolutely beautiful cards even if the first few words I read was “human organs donated for….” Still. that didn’t put me off looking at them! Wonderful creations. Again.

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    1. 😂😂😂 re: the random background text you see about organs. 😂😂😂 Guess that’s what I get for cutting out my scraps from law review articles on healthcare.

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  9. Stan K. Beest

    These are actually pretty cool. And I’m not much of a collage person (too much exposure to those 1970s large hideous collage wall hangings I suppose – oops, now I’m showing MY age!). The juxtapositions of images on these is genuinely inspired.

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  10. Stan K. Beest

    These are actually pretty cool. And I’m not much of a collage person (too much exposure to those 1970s large hideous collage wall hangings I suppose – oops, now I’m showing MY age!). The juxtapositions of images on these is genuinely inspired.

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  12. Shelly

    I’m interested to know if you used dried pressed flowers? And what kind of glue to stick these dried flower?

    They are all so pretty. I love them.
    From Shelly

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  13. sharpsiren

    Your cards are so beautiful! As I commented on your community tab on YouTube (I’m witedahlia on YouTube, Sharpsiren here) I love doing things like this. I had just received my corner rounder in the mail the day I saw your post! Leave it to you to make something beautiful out of a de-stresser ✨

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  14. WeeZee

    These cards are so beautiful!! And all these awesome comments from your fans put a smile on my face!! Just goes to show people have much more in common than they realize. Great ideas to calm and relax that I need to use much more in my life.
    Much Thanks to Benebell and everyone!

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  15. TILAL: Part 6 New York City September 4, 2013 Chapter V:
    “It is just a storm, he tells himself, but he is tired of looking for shelter.
    …
    That is where the darkness makes an offer.”
    —
    What secrets lay beneath the roses? They were never hidden, just obscured.
    Like the papers scattered about Wall Street—each a leaf from a grander tree.
    1989 is an iconic Taylor Swift album—your flowers remind me of that year.

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