The Serendipity Technique

This is an oldie but goodie - lots of fun and requires absolutely nothing stressful. . . Here we go!

Supplies:
-1 piece white matte card stock (this is your background, so you can actually use any color you want - you'll see later some examples)
-Various ink pads  
-Black ink pad 

-Embossing powder (you definitely want clear, and perhaps some other colors to dab on)

- Stamps (any kind you wish - seasonal, collage, sentiments. Just keep in mind this will be cut up)

 Now - this is the fun part.

Step 1 - Take your background paper and using the Direct to Paper technique,
color, scribble, mark, paint with all your colored ink pads.  You want this
to be a mess - with no rhyme or reason - be bold - use colors outside of
your comfort zone.  Use gel pens, markers, Pearl Ex, anything you want to.
When you are satisfied with your colorful mess, go to step 2.

Step 2 - Chose your stamps and then stamp on your background with your
black ink pad.  Again, there needn't be any theme or pattern, in fact, I
think the less structured the better.  Once you are happy with the amount of
stamping, select your embossing powder and emboss the entire sheet.  There
will still be "wet" spots of ink and the powder will stick there.  I always use clear, but I may put some gold or another color in a few spots.  It takes a while to emboss the whole sheet - I give my embossing gun a rest between sheets if I am doing more than one.  Once this is done, go to step 3. 

Step 3 - Take your entire sheet and decide the size of the squares you want
to use.  I typically use 1" x 1", but you can use bigger if you want.  I
certainly wouldn't go any smaller.  You can also cut your squares with
decorative scissors.  Once you are done with your sheet you'll have more squares than you need, so you can always stash them away to use later, or keep making cards until you run out.

Step 4 - grab your adhesive and a piece of paper to stick your squares on.
It is really fun to see what color card stock goes with your squares - Some of the combinations I would have never thought of.  You can arrange your squares prior to gluing, or just start gluing. As you can see from the different cards I made from the squares I cut from this sheet, the background card stock color can really make a difference in how the squares look.  The pattern you put them in can make them all look different, too.

 A couple weeks ago I couldn't sleep and I took out some of the squares I had left (some of them from the project above - that I have had since 2009!) and made a few embellishments to use later.

First I traced around something I had on my desk to make a circle.

 

 Then I took some of the squares I had left over from eons ago and placed them around the circle - I think it came out kinda cool & I'll use it as an embellishment on a card or something.

 Bitten by the circle bug I punched out a circle this time and used some holiday squares I had left over.  Instead of using the full squares I cut them in half - I didn't use a cutter or anything so they probably aren't perfect, but isn't that the point of handmade? It's sparklier (like my new word?) than the picture shows & I think it will look nice on a holiday card.

 Then I decided to try to make a Christmas tree, but it came out looking like a stack of gifts to me - I'll probably add a little box on the top and some itty bitty tags to each gift so it's a little clearer what they are.

Now I was getting tired so I thought I'd make one more card - I just used left overs again and spaced them on the card stock.  I made dots of silver between the squares to pick up some of the sparkle but you can't really see it that well.  And if I was going to make these to give away I'd pick out squares that were closer to size (I don't know how I end up with different sized squares sometimes. . .LOL) and I'd be a bit more careful with the placement but I wanted to show this because the squares are just alcohol ink on glossy card stock - very pretty I think.

 
 Here is a picture of all four embellishments/cards I made - all with just these squares!! This is a VERY easy technique and if you decide to try it I'd LOVE to see some of what you come up with - and if you'd like I'll post your creations for all to see.  I hope you enjoyed my little tutorial & I would appreciate it so much if you'd share your thoughts with me.  Enjoy your day!