New Steampunk Inspired Cards

I'm having a card making week this week. After the Christmas I've been pretty much left with nothing and it's time to restock. There is nothing like new supplies to get the creative juices flowing, so I ordered a bunch of paper from Cork Art Supplies. I found myself drawn to  all their antique and Steampunk style paper, I got this beautiful library themed pad, this old letters one, and vintage emphemera one too.

I make all my cards as 5" x 7", I used to make other sizes but I found that people got a bit ratty about the prces being the same, so I thought it wasn't worth the hassle of weekly pointless arguments, it also makes things easier for me. Now When I get my pads of paper I guillotine them all into strips that are 5" wide, I get two of these per sheet with a little left over.

I then cover all of my blank cards with double sided tape. For about a year the €2 shop was selling this really cheap but a couple of months ago they stopped stocking it so I may need to readjust this part of my ssystem, as tape from the normal craft shop is prohibitively expensive. This is a pretty time consuming boring part of the process but it saves me loads of time down the line.

I then use one of each of the strips(there are two of each pattern) to cover my blank cards. If I was to choose each sheet individually when making every card I would spend loads of time faffing about. Since they will all get used eventually anyway this system just makes it easier and saves time. I trim off the excess with a scalpel. This means I am left with a 5" x 5" cut off, and the second strip of 5" x 12", plus the 2" x 12" left over cut off. I use all of these pieces to decorate and layer my cards, because they are all pre-cut to 5" wide it makes the whole process much faster. This may seem like a bit of a souless way to make something creative but I look at it as my prepping stage. From this point onwards is the fun bit when I get to play with ribbon, paper punches, ink, stamps and stickers.

Here are a few I've made from this paper already, I better get back into the studio and make some more for the weekend at the market!

Ps: Funnily enough my friend Dave sent me this article on how Steampunk is set to be the big trend, just a few days after I made these cards. I had noticed this on Pinterest about 6 months ago and it appealed to my inner teenage goth. Then just yesterday I met a friend for tea who showed me a load of really beautiful new Steampunk jewellery that he had made. You can say you heard it here first, Steampunk is gonna be huge!

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What I'm Wearing: Brown Floral Dress

It's been a long while since I did a What I'm Wearing post, so I thought I would take a pic of this outfit while I had it on. As you know I love clashing prints, so I jazzed up this dress I've had for years with this wide sleeved blouse I picked up last week. I used to wear loads of brown, but now looking at my wardrobe I don't have that much of it anymore, looking at this rusty mixes I must keep an eye out for some more as I quite like it with my hair(which went a shade redder last week).

I'm sure you saw the button necklace post I did already, well this was it's first airing, I'll probably wear it against something plainer in the future but I just couldn't resist the colour combination.

The shoes were a great find, I got them at the Milk Market from my friend Sarah for only €5, aren't they yummy? Herself and another friend Malou did a clear out of their wardrobes and sold their finer pieces, I picked up lots of great goodies from them.

Dress: A-Wear €5, I got it years ago, it's super comfy

Blouse: Pennies €5 in the sale

Belt: Free with another top

Shoes: Milk Market €5

Necklace: made by me, this is the prototype, I've no idea if I'll make more or what I'll charge

Outfit total: €15

Recessionista brownie points: 1,000 000

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Wire Wrap Button Necklace

I was a bit twitchy to make something new when I eventually found the energy to crawl my way out of my sick bed. I have a red button necklace that I got in a flea market that I wear all the time, which most people assume I made myself. In the back of my mind of mind I've been meaning to make a new one for ages, so it seemed like the perfect time. 

I've seen a few button cluster necklaces online, but I didn't really know how to go about making one. I picked out a load of nice matching coloured buttons in varying sizes. Then I composed them into this v shape so I had something to work from. After that it was a case of threading the wire through the holes while trying to keep the structure. I was much trickier than I though, and it took me nearly three hours to make. I'd say this had more to do with the fact that the wire I was using was too thick. 

I'd like to make more of them, and maybe sell them in the craft shop when it opens but I would need to watch some wire wrapping tutorials online to make them neater, and also invest in some new wire. As it stands I'm happy with the one I made for myself. Now when people ask 'did you make that?' I can happily answer 'yes'.

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