Thursday, July 14, 2011

One scrapbook paper: more than one different greeting cards

A big portion of crafters out there, like me, have fell prey of the viral, popular and wonderful art of scrapbooking. This most certainly means, that all of the "victims" have beautiful scrapbook papers at home; if not they are going to look for it right after finishing reading this blog post. From a single piece of paper, like the one below, you can create up to 4 different greeting cards. I highly recommend the cardstock paper or something similar, like the one shown below; but any other will work just find.

scrapbook paper
Some might not believe this, but that gorgeous and high quality piece of paper just cost me 28 cents. What can I say?, I'm a sales' junkie. With those 28 cents and just a few other materials, plus my imagination , I can create a couple of beautiful greeting cards that will not only leave the receiver mouth wide open and feeling special, but will also be the main topic of conversation among everybody. There is nothing wrong with showing off your skills.

Ok, lets start. As you could see, the paper has two major designs in opposite corners that stand out more than the rest. Those are the front of two of my cards, so I want to make sure that when I trace and cut my card they will be unaltered. You can set the dimensions of your card to your liking and just trace light lines to outline where your are going to cut. I decided to use a greeting card that I had as a mold. I placed the card on the paper with the design up so I can see where the main design is, in this case the bird. With a pencil I lightly trace the outline of the card.

mold dimensions: w 8in (24 cm) x h 6in (17cm)

Time for cutting. If you are good with scissors and ,unlike me, can cut in a straight line be my guest and use your scissors. But, I'm pretty sure that as a fellow scrap booker, some of you already have the "guillotine" , go ahead and use it; leave the scissors for minor details. In this case, I'm making a folding card; if you are too, go ahead and fold it through the middle. Don't rush the folding, make sure you are connecting  and aligning the open ends as precise as you can.

Now that I have my first card, is decorating time! Is important to think what you want to convey, what is the card purpose and most importantly what does, by looking at it, you feel. Seriously, as an artist and a crafter, is important to feel our work; that’s where our inspiration come from. For me, I felt nature, simplicity and beauty, a dream and peace. I want my card to convey all these emotions to its receiver but at the same time I want to keep it open to almost any occasion. So I looked up for some simple, yet gorgeous stickers that helps me convey that. And voila!!!
card #1: folding card

As you can see above, that’s the final result. I got to say that I love this paper even more, because of the double side print; which took out the common white. Don't miss understand me, there is nothing wrong with the inside been white, is just that I love the wonderful and coordinated twist that this type of paper gave me. You can always find a way to make the inside of your card more interesting, by using words or maybe stamps, who knows where your imagination will take you.

Ok, I know I said "different cards", but I wasn’t talking only about the printed design Your card does not have to be the common folding card, it can have a different style. For example, it can be a one piece, double sided card with the front design on one side and the message on the other.
card #2: folding card
card#3:double sided card


I decided to use the left piece of paper and use the other side to decorate the inside of another card. At the end I got 4 different greeting cards from just one piece of paper.

made by: Lora's Crafts and Arts Ideas
With the variety of paper prints out there the possibilities are endless. Can you imagine all the different and personalized greeting cards, invitations, etc. that you can do for just pennies?!! Oh, well my imagination is running wild just thinking about it, how about yours?