Snippets of Words: Make it when you find it [or else find a really good storage system!]

Hi, hi.

If you're my mother, you might want to skip this post otherwise your birthday is going to hold few surprises. OK? OK.

As for the rest of you well ... the thing is, her birthday isn't for quite a while ... but I made the card just a few days ago, and not because I'm particularly efficient ... but because the opportunity occurred and I grabbed it. Which is really the point of this post, because once again I'm talking about using wording cut from books to decorate craft projects and:

• when you're dealing with tiny, lightweight, one-sneeze-and-it's-gone strips of paper snipped free from a full page ... you're either going to have to find a good way to store them until you need them OR
• get them safely stuck down before the next light breeze comes along, whether you need it right then or not!

As I've started needing to scour lots of snippets for another, on-going project, I've actually started to think of ways to securely store them while still making them easy for me to browse [I can't face just tipping them all into a envelope where they'd get all jumbled up!].

So at the moment I'm working on the idea of having layers of sheets of felt for all my free-floating phrases nestled on top meaning hopefully the nap of the fabric will help keep them from flying away! But I'll let you know how that goes when it's been tried and tested. But, failing that ...

... sometimes you just have to use those ideal snippets when you spot them.

• Before they sail away.
• Before you forget which page you saw it on.
• Before you accidentally pick it up on your cardigan sleeve and then deposit it somewhere random. Like inside your coat. Or Tesco.

And so ...  after making this card [one of my 3DJean Design Team projects for this month] I spent quite a while browsing for an interesting phrase to use on it, but only one stood out, and it didn't really mean anything useful except ... except it just put me in mind of the kind of thing my Mam [and my Grandma before her] would think or say...

... and while I hadn't originally intended for this to be her birthday card ... I just had to. It was too perfect not to grab the opportunity and put the snippet to its perfect use:

[For the record: she's not in the habit of not coming home!! It's more of a 'free spirited' kind of thing ... a bit hard to go into here!]

So that's how browsing for a phrase, for something, anything very broad and non-specific to finish off a generic card somehow became a very specific card for someone special:

But, if [like me] you can't always turn the phrase into something special right there and then ... then, like me, you're going to also develop a grand collection of little plastic bags stuffed with perfect phrases in search of a project!

I hope my examples of 'Snippets of Words' are inspiring you to give it a try. They really can help to deliver some sneaky poetry, an undiscovered story and an element of serendipity to your everyday crafting!

Julie
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Supplies from 3DJean:

• 12x12 Lily Bee Designs papers
• Lost Coast Designs Zebra Stripe border stamp
• Gold faux diamante mesh
• Black organza rose 

Meanwhile similar pages from a vintage German dictionary page are available from my Etsy shop here OR I can easily create an alternative option of non-English-language pages for you. You only have to ask.