One Sheet Wonder 12×12

kristie sloan one sheet wonder 12x12The One Sheet Wonder is not my original idea. It is not a new idea. However it is still a WONDERful idea! The concept is to take one sheet of paper and cut it so that you are able to use the many pieces to decorate quite a few cards from just a single sheet. I guess it makes you “wonder” how you could make so many cards with just one piece! When you use a double sided sheet of patterned paper, you can really take advantage of how many looks you can create.

This is the perfect plan for a sheet of paper that you are saving for something special because you feel like it is too fabulous to cut up. By using this method, you can get great mileage from that loved piece of paper!

There are many variations of the One Sheet Wonder. Some people like to cut a piece of colored card stock in the exact same way, so that they have even more options. I have even heard of using two coordinating double-sided sheets, and one each of two coordinating solid colors, for making an incredible number of cards. I hope I’m not confusing you!

My mother recently told me she had depleted her set of cards my daughter had given her, which had been made with this method. I decided I would make another set for her.

While looking through my paper I looked at this sheet and noticed how many things it had already printed on the sheet and wondered how it might work. I had never seen anything except an all-over print used for a one sheet wonder set of cards. I grabbed it along with 2 sheets of coordinating card stock.skylark lagoon pear

Although it was double sided, I wasn’t sure how much I would use the second side, because the front side had so much to select from. However, there was the little bonus decorative strip I could cut off and use in some way.

skylark double sided

Here are both sided of the decorative paper

I decided to just use a cream card stock so they would be easy to write on the inside and easy to see. My mom’s sight is not like it once was, and I knew using colored card stock would be difficult to see her writing. I didn’t want to have to cut liners for each card. Plus, by using the cream card stock for the base, she could write on the entire inside of the card instead of on one side if I added liners. (I really don’t know if that is what you could call them. I know envelopes can have liners!) I used 8 1/2 x 11 card stock, cut in half to make two cards per sheet. You can actually find a great value back of cards and envelopes at the bottom of this post.

Only 2 ink pads were used for stamping and inking any edges, Pear and Chocolate.  A variety of stamps were used for the sentiments. The inside is blank on each card.

Here are the cards I came up with using embossing folders, punches and bits of ribbon, etc.

kristie sloan skylark 14 card one sheet wonder

Here you can see each one larger by clicking on the card image:

Kristie Sloan one sheet wonder card 1

Kristie Sloan one sheet wonder card 2

Kristie Sloan one sheet wonder card 3

Kristie Sloan one sheet wonder card 4

Kristie Sloan one sheet wonder card 5

Kristie Sloan one sheet wonder card 14

A bit of gesso over the stamping on the right, helped tone it down a bit. Details hand drawn on the flower and leaves done with fine line pen.

Kristie Sloan one sheet wonder card6 Kristie Sloan one sheet wonder card 7 Kristie Sloan one sheet wonder card 8

Kristie Sloan one sheet wonder card 9

Decorative strip from the back side of the paper added this card.

Kristie Sloan one sheet wonder card 13

Embossed card front and glitter tape made this a quick card. Stamping added to the punched heart.

Kristie Sloan one sheet wonder card

Kristie Sloan one sheet wonder card 12

Embossed edge was hand cut along the scalloped border.

Kristie Sloan one sheet wonder card 10

This card has a diagonal piece of the paper, and then was stamped over the entire card front.

 

Here are basic cutting dimensions.

One Sheet Wonder 12x12 cutting guide

Update: See this post for more specifics and mat dimensions.


Cheers to YOUR creativity!

KS

 

CREATE, a Tag

I love doing project swaps! It is fun to get little pieces of inspiration from friends. Once you find out how many people you are swapping with, you get to work deciding what you are going to share, and making sure you have enough materials to create the given number of items. Somehow, I have a habit of coming up with grand ideas that are much easier in my brain than they are when I get started! Yet, I carry on!

I recently created 25 tags for a swap with my ScrapHappy friends. We were challenged to create our tag front to somehow be representative of ourselves. Hmmm….. what would I do? What would I do?

manila and kraft tagsI finally came up with a plan and got busy! The tags were to be no larger than 4×6, and didn’t necessarily have to be a traditional “tag” shape. However, I had the remainder of two packages of tags which were just a bit longer than 6 inches, and guess how many I had. 25! I cut about a 1/4 inch off each one to make it 6 inches long and was ready to go.

Paint and Gelli plate printing seemed like a great idea to get color on the backgrounds. Some of the tags were kraft, and were much more flimsy than the manila tags. However, after the first paint layers dried, they were much the same.

gelli plate and paint supplies

I used my basic stamping tool, small bubble wrap, to add some white highlights and brighten the backgrounds.

I had planned to just hand write “Create” but the texture was so rough, and my white paint pens were not being cooperative.

Create-Tag-diecutInstead, I used my electronic die cut machine to cut out the word “Create” in a size suitable for the tag. They were perfect! Oh, wait — how was I going to get some of their dainty little parts removed from the sticky backing of the mat? I decided to take some Press N Seal food wrap and see if I could press it over them and lift them off. NO! Rubbing on the wrap, just stuck the words on the mat even more firmly! Eventually I realized I was going to have to painstakingly remove the words. So I did. Ever so carefully!

After seeing how difficult it would be to get the words off, I knew that gluing them onto the tags was going to be a little difficult. In hind sight, I should have put a layer of Glue N’ Seal on the tag and just stuck the words down. However, I didn’t think of that. All I could think of was the fact that I’d never be able to get glue on their tiny parts. I had thought about running them through my Xyron, but I thought I’d just have the same problem lifting them off, that I had already had getting them off the cutting mat! After a trip to go buy some spray adhesive, I was back in business! I had them upside down on the food wrap and sprayed them. The food wrap proved to come in handy after all! It was tacky enough to hold them in place, so I could spray the back sides. I used tweezers to help lift them off and get them into place on the tags. They were now a breeze to adhere! Whew, a major hurdle behind me.

paint palette die cutI cut little paint palettes with my electronic die cut machine, and compared to “Create,” they were a breeze! I then placed little dots of the paint I had used on the tag backgrounds to create the little pools of color. Using heavy body acrylic paint allowed the paint to retain it’s shape and give great coverage on the black card stock palettes! When dry, I glued them to the tags.

I wanted to add something for a little paint brush and thought about just cutting out a little shape by hand and using markers to add color. Then I decided I would make little brushes from clay and paint them when finished. No, that wasn’t going to take long, I told myself! It would be worth it in the end! After the first set was ready after baking, I broke one handle, and was afraid they would be too fragile to make the trip to my event, and may not successfully make further trips with my friends on the way back to their homes.

Create-Tag-paint-paletteWhat was I going to do? I had gone much too far to turn back! I started looking online for ideas on making teeny tiny paintbrushes, and came across a couple of ideas from young girls sharing ideas on making paint brushes for their American Girl dolls! I LOVE miniature items of almost anything. It was so funny to think I was finding my idea from little girls online! It is a new generation!

mini paintbrush suppliesFinally, I was finishing my paintbrushes by snipping off toothpicks, and taking tiny snips of a silver washi tape and wrapping around near one end to make the ferrule of the brush (the metal part that holds in the bristles). As luck would have it, (or not have it) the washi tape was the non-sticky variety! Don’t you hate it when you get that kind? I had to take the tiniest bit of glue to get it to stick! I could see the end in sight! I used black permanent marker to create “bristles” and dipped the very end in one of the paints I had used on the tag. When they were dry, I used glue dots to stick one on each palette.

By this time, I was getting rather tired of this project! I wanted to add a bit of ribbon or fiber on the end, but didn’t see anything that really struck my fancy. I had some ribbon that would coordinate and decided it was good enough! So I cut small lengths and just folded each one in half and used my tiny stapler to attach them.

Create-Tag

DONE! I was FINALLY done!

I’m starting to think I have a real problem with the reality of time. As in I don’t have realistic ideas as to how much time it will take me to complete the things I dream up! However, that’s part of what I enjoy. When I come up with my ideas, I truly enjoy watching them come together. I guess you could say I am somewhat of a problem solver when it comes to completing my ideas. I don’t like to give up if something is not working out as planned. I just move on to plan B, C, or D, E, F….. or W, X, Y, whatever it takes!

Don’t let little setbacks keep you from finishing crafty projects you may want to do! Just go for it! Like my tags said, CREATE! Enjoy the process. There are many of us out here to cheer you on, or give you ideas when you are stuck. If you’d like to join us on the Artful Adventures Facebook Group, we are a friendly and supportive group! Come on over!

Cheers to YOUR creativity,

KS

May Scrapbook Style Art Journal Calendar

Artful-Adventues-May-Art-Journal-Calendar

May Art Journal Calendar

An art journal calendar is a fun way to just make a few note about your daily life, and this style is great if you are just dipping your toes into the world of daily journaling.  A great feature of creating your own pages is the fact that you can start anytime.  If you didn’t start in January, no problem!  You don’t have a pre-made book with dates that are just empty. (If you did use a pre-dated item, you could always just fill in the previous pages with other stuff — notes, ideas, sketches — it’s all good!)

It’s been kind of hard to get into a spring mindset, with all the snow that kept showing up in April.  I felt like where I went, there it snowed!  This page kind of represents a spring morning, the dawn of a new season! Even with the threat of snow as I was making this page, and my daughter coming in to tell me that she was standing outside and watched a light rain turn into snowflakes, I was still determined to make a spring page for May.

Here’s the way the page came together:

  • Large letters were used to create a mask for the word May.
  • I used pastels to create the background.
  • Then I blended and played with the color to make my version of early morning.
  • I decided I didn’t want to cover the background I had so much fun creating, so I used a piece of lightweight cardboard from the back of a tablet of paper and made a flower template with my Big Shot and a flower die.
  • Tracing around the flower die, I left a few running off the edge of the paper, and made some close enough together to make them look like there are some behind others.
  • Day numbers were added at the edges of the flower shapes.
  • Some doodles were added here and there.
  • A border was doodled around the entire border.

That was it!  I think as the month goes on, I will be able to add more doodling and other embellishments as it becomes clear which days have more written in them. We’ll see how that goes.

I hope you will make a page and come over and share a picture of it over on our Facebook Artful Adventures Group page!

Here are some of my other examples of art journal calendars.

Have you made any art journal calendars, either in more of an art journal style or this scrapbook style?  Please share your ideas with us!

 

Heart Punch Shamrocks on March Art Journal Calendar

Artful-Adventures-Kristie-Sloan-Heart-Punch-ShamrocksI always love it when I can show you something and get a project done at the same time!  Today, I’ve got yet another way to use a heart punch or die cut.  We are almost to March this year, and St. Patrick’s Day brings Irish inspired design to many things during the month of March.

These were made from vellum so that they did not completely cover up the background layers.

For this March art journal calendar scrapbook page:

VintageSt.PatricksDay
  • Used a green piece of 12×12″ card stock for the foundation piece.
  • Die cut “March” from a printed paper, and inked the edges of the letters
  • Arranged the vintage greetings and adhered them.
Artful-Adventures-Kristie-Sloan-March-Project-Layout
  • Toned down the greetings with a bit of white craft ink.
Artful-Adventures-Kristie-Sloan-March-Project-Inking
  • Punched hearts from heavy vellum card stock
  • Inked the edges of the hearts
  • Arrange the hearts into shamrocks
  • Adhered just the points with a bit of glitter glue
  • Topped off the center of each shamrock with a bit of Crystal Effects, to make sure they adhered securely.
Artful-Adventures-Kristie-Sloan-Heart-Punch-Shamrocks
  • Drew stems on the shamrocks with a marker.
  • Numbered the petals of the shamrocks to be used as a tiny journal spot for each day.

Artful-Adventures-Kristie-Sloan_March-Art-Journal-Calendar-Scrapbook-Page

Don’t forget to join us over at the Artful Adventures Facebook Group and share your completed items!  There will be “lucky” prizes drawn in March for those who have uploaded something they have created. You never know when those drawings will be held!

Chalkboard Technique with Doodles and Heart Punch Stencils

ArtfulAdventures KristieSloan chalkboard techniqueChalkboard art is quite popular right now.  I’m sure you’ve seen a thing or two that lately that has the chalkboard look.  I’ve got a couple of ideas for you today.

  1. We’ll use a punch to create a stencil.
  2. We’ll create a chalkboard look for a scrapbook page.

Artful Adventures KristieSloan Punch Chalkboard Doodle SuppliesHere is more mileage we can get from that same heart punch that we’ve used for several ideas. You can use most any punch for a stencil.  You’ll need:

  • Black paper for your background
  • Your punch
  • Paper to punch and make your stencil
  • White Ink – a pigment ink will allow you to smear it well
  • Sponge for applying your ink
  • A white (or silver) pencil or pen for the detail work
After you sponge in your punched stencil with the white ink, just take your white pen or pencil and create some doodled lines!  Doodles DON’T HAVE TO BE PERFECT!  Just have fun.
Artful Adventures with KristieSloan chalkboard doodle punch
  • I first drew in simple lines that ran between the hearts.
  • Next I drew a second line and just ran back and forth over the first one.  It creates kind of a ribbon look.
  • Then I just added some curls at the ends of my lines.
  • I then added dots on my “ribbon” and at the end of the little curlicues.
There are a number of options you can consider using for your doodling.  I used the white watercolor pencil on this project.
ArtfulAdventures KristieSloan chalkboard doodle punch pens

 

Now you’ll want to make the black paper look a little more chalky so that it looks like it has been erased a few time.  Two options I like are:

  1. Lightly sponge on more white ink, using the sponge almost dry so that you don’t get too much.  You can always add more, but it’s hard to remove it!
  2. You can use an Embossing Buddy, which is meant to be used on the surface of your project before using embossing powder.  It has a slightly powdery effect which will make sure you don’t have static and have embossing powder clinging where you don’t want to emboss. Rubbing it across your black paper gives it that “chalky” appearance.  However, it is still kind of powdery, so if you are using this technique on a scrapbook page, you may want to select the inking technique.

ArtfulAdventures KristieSloan chalkboard technique with embossing buddy

At this point I added a photo to the page and added more doodles around it.  Then I added a title, and even more doodles. Then I decided I needed some more hearts, so I stenciled in a few more hearts.  Okay, I may have gone overboard, but it’s a fun page, and I enjoyed doing it!  I got a cute picture on a page, and I enjoyed myself!

Artful Adventures Chalkboard Doodle Scrapbook

Loosen up and try your hand at something new. My page isn’t perfect, but I don’t care.  In case you haven’t noticed, there are people who are enjoying quite a following creating art that isn’t perfect.  Is is NOT about the perfect!  I hope you’ll give the chalkboard technique a try and you are always welcome to share your work with us over at the Artful Adventures Facebook Group!

Chalkboard_Best-ThingsLast, but not least, here is another page I made that has a similar look.  This page was done with the February sketch layout from my friend Beth at ScrappingWonders.com.