Super Secret Stashbusting Challenge

I was so thrilled to find a package awaiting me in my mailbox today and even more excited to see who the package was from!  As soon as I saw the return address on the envelope I knew that I was one of the lucky 10 to be chosen to participate in the www.dollarstorecrafts.com Super Secret Stashbusting Challenge!  I had thought maybe I wasn’t one of the fortunate few since I knew that others had begun receiving their packages a week or so ago but I guess it was just the long journey across the Canadian border that slowed mine down.  Either way, I’m ready to play!

The idea behind the challenge was that Heather would put together an envelope filled with odds and ends taken from her own stash.  We are to use these items to make things, drawing from our own stashes to supplement the items but not buying anything new to use.  I have to say, I’ve been feeling a little dry creatively lately.  In fact, I just got through telling some friends on Facebook that I felt like I had lost my artsy mojo.  Just opening up the package and seeing the contents has made those creative juices start flowing again and I feel reinvigorated to start making things!

I love that Heather organized these packages by colour themes.  She didn’t even know (well I don’t think she did) that my favourite colour is pink but maybe we had some kind of ESP thing going on because that’s the basis for the materials I was sent.  I also love that there’s a variety of materials included – an assortment from a baby’s onesie to fabric scraps to zippers to a sheet of cardboard tags to stickers to little bird figurines and more. 

The instant I saw the onesie and some of the items included with it, I already had a picture in my head of what I would do with it.  When I saw the zippers, I knew right away that I wanted to try making some of those zipper flower brooches that I have seen on so many crafting blogs.  Some of the projects I would make with other items weren’t instantly coming to me but I felt like there was great potential there and could feel the wheels turning in my brain (can you smell the smoke from there?). 

There are a few items that currently have me stumped though.   The stickers are one of those items.  The birds and the little crocheted cherries are another.  At first glance I thought ohhhh I don’t like those.  How will I make something out of things I don’t like?  As I keep looking at them, though, I realize it isn’t so much that I don’t like them.  It’s more that they are the kinds of items that I’ve seen people use before to make incredibly tacky crafts out of and so I feel like I have to use them carefully so I don’t cross that line.  My initial thought had been that the rules didn’t state that I had to use everything in the envelope so I can just ignore these items and make my creations from the rest of the stash.  But, I have challenged myself to use every bit of what Heather sent (or at least a sampling of each item…eg. I might not find a use for every one of the stickers right now, but I certainly am challenging myself to find a way to use up at least some of the stickers!).    I can’t wait to get started!