Giving Old Crochet a New Purpose!

I wanted to make a card to enclose with last week's giveaway prizes, and I decided it should include crochet. I love making cards out of sample pieces. I guess you could say it is an exercise in "upcyling". Sometimes I make a brooch and pin it onto the card so it serves 2 purposes; to decorate the card, and as a little surprise gift. It depends on what pieces of crochet inspire me. I have a large bag filled with leftover scrumbles, samples, and swatches. They are just waiting for the perfect project! I needed this bag twice on the day I made this card. My daughter needed some cord to hang a pinata she had made, and I found the perfect piece of bright orange crocheted cord in my bag. It was leftover from a tutorial I had done. We are starting to call it the magic bag, as it always seems to have just what we need in it!

For this card, I used 4 different samples. The vine with the berries, the two gold flowers, and the light yellow center that I stitched on top of a gold flower. When I am in America, I like to go to Michaels to buy card blanks. They have a nice assortment of colors, and they come with envelopes. Since they are plain, you can customize them for any occasion. I chose a beige card but it seemed too plain, so I sponge painted it lightly with a dark gold color first. Then, I stitched all 4 pieces together and glued them to the card. I decided to cut around the crochet and glue it on a dark background to give it some depth. After I did that, I was really happy with it. Happy with the look, and happy that I had made something new and exciting out of pieces I thought I might never use!

What do you make with your scraps and leftovers? I would love to hear about your ideas!