More Vintage Vogue

I promise you - it took less time to make the cards than it did to blog about them!  Paper mache rocks for Hayden's Shakespeare Club performance have been taking up my time - but all finished with now, thank goodness (and pretty realistic looking they were, if I do say so myself!)

So back to the vintage vogue one sheet wonder...  This lot of cards really were quick and easy.  Sponged edges, crimped card strips, layers of card,  stampin' dimensionals to pop some of the elements up, and a quick stamped sentiment (or a selection of those things!)  

The second card was super basic - a strip of the stamped one sheet wonder card matted on some perfect plum card that had been crimped and a quick sentiment stamped in coordinating ink.  I could have added so much more, but sometimes it is nice to keep it kind of simple (and if I remember correctly, I was due at the bus stop right about then!) 

Of course, the plan was also to use every last little scrap of my original stamped one sheet wonder card (I still had some left after these cards), so the rest of that strip I had cut for the last card, was cut into squares to make this one.  Originally I had been planning on having another longer strip but with a different card orientation to the last one, but somewhere along the way it transformed into this.  But that is what the playing is all about - making stuff up as you go along, and having fun doing it!

The first of the Vintage Vogue 'One Sheet Wonder' cards

Before I show you the first of the cards I made I want to quickly explain what my understanding of 'one sheet wonder' is.  For me it is getting a plain old piece of card (in this case white, but it can be whatever you want) and going to town with your stamps and inks and decorating up the entire piece of card.  I am a fan of Do It Yourself (DIY) patterned papers, and this is exactly what this is!  When you are done you have a one of a kind patterned card that you can then use for all kinds of coordinating projects.  

One sheet wonder = DIY patterned paper

(at least, that is my take on it!)

What I like about it is that not only are you guaranteed to get the perfect patterned paper for your project (!), it is also a great way to just play, and is especially good for when you are in the mood for creating, but don't have a specific project in mind. I used the lovely new vintage vogue stamp set and grabbed perfect plum and pale plum, along with mellow moss as my ink colours. You can see it all stamped up and ready to go in the last post, if you didn't already :)  When it came to making projects I just needed to pull out the coordinating card and other embellishments, and play some more. Easy and fun!

Obviously the patterned paper was all flowery and pretty and best suited for girly projects (which, when I set out, was going to be an assortment of cards, little gifts, mini scrapbook project...  but ended up being all cards!)  My first thought was how nice a butterfly would look with that flowery background:

I punched out one butterfly in each shade of plum.  I used silver cord to tie them together, and threaded on some little silver spacer beads from the pretties kit for the body (I always forget to use those little spacer beads!)  The pale plum butterfly was then attached flat to the card front, and the darker, top butterfly has the wings free, and folded up to look like it is flying. 

I sponged the edge of the patterned card, and added another girly touch with the eyelet border punch, but didn't bother with a sentiment.  Sometimes it is good to have an 'any occasion' card on hand, and you can always add a sentiment to the inside of the card as needed.

I really liked that butterfly embellishment, so added one to the next card too - although this time with a couple of loops of silver cord instead of beads, for the butterfly body.  

I stamped one of the sentiments from the vintage vogue stamp set on a scrap of card, and added that too, along with some more scraps (I don't have any plum ribbon, and was too lazy to colour any, so card strips made an easy alternative).  I did run the moss card strip through the crimper first though, to add some interest.  And that crimping led me to the next group of cards... (coming soon!)

Still Here!

Oh my goodness - I have been a slacker on the blogging front lately, and just quietly, craft time has been hit and miss lately too.  Family time has taken over.  That and housework.  And school activities.  And family adventures, and taking photos, and blogging about family adventures (I have a tendancy to want to explain every little detail, and that has a tendancy to take a lot of time, as some of you may have noticed!) and school assignments, and upset tummies, and did I mention housework?! 

We have another crazy week coming up, but I have made a promise to myself that there will be some crafting in amongst it somewhere, and some crafty blogging too.  And just to show you that I mean what I say, here is a little glimpse of what I have been playing with - the very beautiful vintage vogue stamp set that has just become available in the newest NZ/Aust mini catalogue  - I will be working on updating the catalogue links over there on the sidebar this week too!

Now I know that this 'one sheet wonder' doesn't look that exciting right now (not to mention the terrible lighting), but it is in the process of being transformed into some lovely projects that are a lot more exciting, and I promise that it won't take me another 5 weeks to get around to sharing them!