Recycle Your Chipboard Letters

Wow - I can't believe I am part of the wonderful design team at Its a Creative world" My name is Di, I am a crafter from Cape Town South Africa and the mad darling mother of Caz. This my first post on the blog so thought I would start by keeping it simple.

One of our inspirational categories is 'Use your Stash" - and we all have LOADS of stash. Each time I tidy my studio I spend more time oohing and aahing at the stuff I discover, than actually tidying. So today I am going to talk about using some of that forgotten stash by "Recycling your Chipboard Letters.

This is just a small sample of my HUGE collection of chipboard letters::

I NEVER have what I need and continually just buy new sets. I am now retired and have a much stricter budget (boo hoo), so have started to "Recyle my chipboard letters". I have included the tools and supplies you will you need, hints, examples of layouts created using recycled letters and of course what to doYour feedback is valuable to us so please continue to post your comments. So just for starters a Teaser - let us know what words you can create from the following letters: BeOYQHE, OaN, Bld, HQb

And just a little Bonus - whatever you can do with Chipboard Letters you can do with that HUGE supply of Die-cuts woo hoo.

Thanks for reading and have fun Using Your Stash Di XX

Tools you will need: Cutting mat, craft knife, metal ruler, pencil and a sanding block or emery board.

Supplies you will need: That huge collection of chipboard letters and optionally, paint, ink, and scraps of cardstock / patterned paper.

Hints: When you cut a piece from a letter, sand lightly where you have cut the piece off and touch up with a little ink or paint. Combine different fonts – it does not always matter. Combine upper and lowercase. If you have odd letters of different colours then paint them, ink them or cover them in cardstock or patterned paper. If you use different styles of letters then consider placing each on a small piece of cardstock to get a consistent look.

This is what your recycled letters may look like:

And here are just a few examples of where we have used recycled chipboard letters: Here I have mixed different styles and fonts:

Here I have used upper case, lower case and what else???

And here I have used upper case, lowercase and of course u where I needed an n - guess you noticed!!!

And here I have really cheated - 3 Ws because I had no Ms.

The awesome JO has used recycled letters on this card: And the intrepid CAZ has rchanged a K to I, b to P and handcut the S!

Now lets get to the nitty gritty. Here are just some of my ideas for recycling YOUR chipboard letters: a to o - cut off 2 pieces A to V - cut off 1 piece and turn it upside down A to I - cut off 1 piece and you get 2 !! b to d - turn it over b to a - cut off 1 piece and turn it upside down b to h - cut off 1 piece b to o - cut off 2 pieces b to I - cut off 1 piece B to a - cut it in half horizontally and you may get 2!! B to b - cut off 1 piece B to E - cut off 2 pieces d to a -cut off 1 piece d to b - turn it over d to p - turn it upside down D to I - cut off 1 piece E to F - cut off 1 piece E to I - cut off 3 pieces E to L - cut off 2 pieces F to I - cut off 2 pieces g to o - cut off 2 pieces G to C - cut off 1 piece H to I - cut off 1 piece and you get 2!! J to I - cut off 1 piece K to I - cut off 2 pieces and you get 3!! L to I - cut off a piece and you get 2!! M to W - turn it upside down M to Z - cut off 1 piece and turn it on its side M to I and V - chop it up and u get 2 Is and a V N to Z - turn it around N to I - cut off 1 pece and you get 2 or maybe 3 !! n to u – turn it upside down O to C - cut off a piece p to d - turn it upside down p to I - cut off 1 piece p to a - cut off 1 piece and turn it upside down P to d - turn it upside down P to I - cut off 1 piece P to a - cut off 1 piece and turn it upside down Q to O - cut off 1 piece R to P - cut off 1 piece R to I - cut off 2 pieces r to i - cut off 1 piece and add a brad for the dot T to I - cut off 2 pieces T to L - turn it upside down and cut off 1 piece U to I cut off 1 piece and you get 2 !! u to n - turn it upside down V to A - turn it upside down and add on 1 piece or add a small button V to I - cut in half and you get 2 !! W to M - turn it upside down W to I and V - chop it up and u get 2 Is and a V W to V - cut in half and you get 2!! W to Z - cut off 1 piece and turn it on its side X to V - cut in half and you get 2!! X to I - cut off 1 piece Y to v - cut off 1 piece Z to M - turn it around and add on a piece Z to N - turn it on its side Z to I - cut off 2 pieces Z to 7 - cut off 1 piece - think about 2007!! and you get an I as well 1 to I - just use it! 6 to o or 0 - cut off 1 piece 6 to 9 - turn it upside down 7 to 1 - cut of 1 piece 7 to I - cut off 1 piece 8 to o - cut in half and you get 2 !! 8 to s - cut off 2 pieces 9 to o - cut off 1 piece 9 to O - cut off 1 piece 9 to 6 - turn it upside down

Depending on the style of your chipboard letters, you will discover many more options The important thing to do is think about what you want,look at what you have and get creative! You are limited only by your imagination so go for it and "Use your Stash".

P.S. where I have referred to lower case 'a' above I was thinking of a 'comic sans' style 'a', which I cannot seem to type in this post!

Just a reminder to respond to my teaser - let us know what words you can create from the following letters: BeOYQHE, Oan, Bld, HQb .

And another very easy teaser - what is the easiest letter to create?

I hope you have enjoyed! OOPS almost forgot to tell you that I am a brand new blogger inspired by the team at "Its a Creative World" to start my own blog.

And the Winner is............ Katie Squirrel!!!

If you could contact us at acreativeworld@hotmail.co.uk then we can forward your address to Scrapbook Central for your yummy prize! Well done and thankyou for visiting!