I can’t tell you how often I’ve set out to make a single-layer card only to end up trimming it down to make it into a panel and matting it onto something else before being happy with it. It’s been a lot, of that I’m sure, and it’s pretty dog-gone frustrating!
I am happy to report, however, that I have broken this unlucky streak and, really, once I realized how I managed it, I’m kinda kicking myself for not trying this before.
What it all boiled down to were three basic rules of design and composition:
Repetition (the same stamped shapes repeated throughout the image)
Limited color palette (dark, medium, and light of the same color family–in this case tangerine/orange)
Balance of positive and negative space (leaving one area blank to offset the busyness of another)
The diagonal line I created with the flowers helped too, and by playing with the mix of color and texture within the repetitive shape I kept the card interesting.
You can see exactly how this card came about–including video!–over on the Imagine blog today!
This weekend I spent a little over two hours creating a batch of cards. Not for a deadline or project or because I needed to send one out the next day, just because.
Because I had a cute kit (Simon Says Stamp, February 2017) that I hadn’t used yet. And because Donut Day (last Friday) reminded me I had it. And sometimes it feels good to craft for no other reason than to do it.
Of course, since I’m me and I’d decided to go ahead and use the kit anyway, I figured I’d go ahead and film it and see what came of it.
The what being a 20 minute video of me rambling a bit, but it’s done and uploaded and I think it’s pretty cool. Again, it was nice to have the time and space to put the cards together and then, by some stroke of magic, get it edited, voiced-over (voice-overed?), and exported all in the same day.
The last video I tried to export, that being the CSI Scrap With Me, took 2 days, multiple restarts, a graphics driver upgrade, and a software upgrade, and a few more hoops just to get the blasted thing to export, much less anything else. This time, however, things went more smoothly and I have to say, major kudos to Premiere Pro for updating it’s title tool (finally!).
Last week (and the week before) was a bad tech week for me, in general. Work computers were wonky, my home laptop was threatening to fail (I was seriously thinking about replacing it during the holiday sales weekend), and then I was extra clumsy Wednesday morning and dropped my phone. Twice.
Apparently it’s better to drop a cellphone where it bounces of a corner instead of landing flat (face up or face down doesn’t matter, and it’s not like we choose to drop our expensive handheld devices one way or another, of course). Because when you drop it flat, the chances of some very important pieces detaching increases astronomically.
First the screen took on this sickly greenish tinge. Then I noticed the touch-screen (which is 99% of the function of a smartphone) wasn’t responding. I figured I was doomed no matter what, so I smacked the phone against my palm and the color corrected. Yay! But the touch screen still wasn’t responding.
Or, I should say, it wasn’t responding how I needed it to. It was doing it’s little zzzt! vibration, like it was registering a command (I have my phone on silent and work and, since I get so few calls anyway, tend to forget and leave it that way at home for days–ahem, weeks–at a time) but it wasn’t getting past the lock screen.
So I did the logical thing: I took out the battery to do a hard reset. After a few moments I gave the phone back it’s battery and then nothing. Absolutely nothing.
I can vividly remember a time before cell phones and it wasn’t even all that bad. Even a time before smart phones. Again, not that bad. But my word, driving to work without a cell phone? That sucked. I couldn’t listen to my podcasts or music (thank goodness for some CDs I had in my car, saving me from drive-time djs). I couldn’t search for the nearest Verizon store. And I couldn’t see if maybe Costco might have better prices on phones. It was pretty horrible, she says from her perch of technological privilege.
It was, however, perhaps the quickest I’ve ever been in and out of a Verizon store: 30 minutes for a new phone and various accessories. Of course I was a year early for an upgrade, but Todd’s contract was up in about 4 months so I was able to buy out the rest of his and then sub in a new phone without drastically changing our bill. And based on my rash of bad phone luck, I did not leave without a case and a screen protector (which I had the sales rep install for me, just in case) and within two days I’d purchased a pop-socket, because the new phone is larger than my old one, and having something slightly more secure to hold onto makes incredible sense.
That’s what I’ve been up to, more or less. What about you?
Mod Podge never seems to fully dry in the South Georgia/North Florida humidity, so I wanted to find another way to get this same result using Imagine products.
Memento markers were the obvious choice, but it took a few trials to find out whether Creative Medium (on its own or with another product added) would work for the adhesive. It had a bit too much tooth on it’s own or even diluted a bit, but when I tried On Point Glue, it worked like a charm!
To get the wavy, pebbly look of old leaded glass I needed to heat the glue to set it before it could settle. Leaving it to dry on its own would be a great way to create a streaky marbled look (which would be great laminated onto a white background).
Thanks so much for stopping and be sure to leave comments (one per blog) during these two days of hopping so you can be entered to win a one of two $25 Joy Clair Stamps Gift Cards or one of two $25 Gift Cards from Imagine!!! Winners will be announced on the Joy Clair and Imagine Blogs at the end of the month.
With a spring in our steps and a hop onto the work table, let’s take a look at what I put together for the Imagine-Joy Clair blog hop!
I selected the Bee Kind and Wood Background stamps for this hop and had a lot of fun with this project. It certainly didn’t hurt that the Bee Kind set comes with the downloadable svg files which worked perfectly with my Cricut to save me some time!
Along with:
Card stock in black, white, and yellow
Cricut & Cricut Design Space
Acrylic blocks
Heat tool
Tweezers
Helmar ZapDots
Trimmer
Wire
Paint brush
Wire cutters
Scotch tape
The spring-loaded bees were inspired by the Action Wobbles that were pretty popular a couple years ago. While these bees don’t so much wobble and bounce, For an actual wiggle I think cutting pieces of a plastic coil bracelet (the stretchy ones you can use to keep your keys on your wrist) and securing them with a heavier adhesive. I might have to experiment with that another time!
Now, where to next? Hopefully you came from Martha’s site and you’re on your way to Kerry’s. If not, why not hop back to the beginning and see what the other designers came up with for this blog hop?!
At the risk of conspicuous consumption, I figured I’d close this week with a few highlights from the third crafty subscription box I’ve been geeting: the Simon Say Stamp monthly card kit.
I posted back in December about the cards I made from the November kit. (8 Cards from 1 Kit) Not only did I fail to make a set of cards from the December kit, I also ordered their separate deluxe card kit and did absolutely nothing with it, either! (Oh, except for some minor squee-ing over the cuteness of everything in each box.)
December Card Kit
It’s not like the items in the kits will go unused. If nothing else the Christmas kits will give me a head start on next year’s cards. Plus, look at that little reindeer–that could totally work for spring or fall cards, and anything can be put into the banner.
The additional deluxe card kit. Impulse buy much?
Same with the bells and presents from the second kit–could certainly work for birthdays, weddings, and other celebrations throughout the year.
January 2017 Kit
February 2017 Kit
The February kit was a return to the cute and useful no matter what style–those coffee and tea stamps are adorable and I had to have them, even though I’d told myself I really shouldn’t order it. Should, schmould. I adore it. And whether those stickers (“shape sprinkles”) end up on cards or in my planner remains to be seen.
In an effort towards fiscal responsibility (bah, adulthood!) I may have to skip the next few kits until I can a) use the ones I have and b) therefore justify the line in my budget better. Still, for the cost ($24.95) you get a lot of stuff–at least 8 cards worth–plus a set of stamps you can reuse as many times as you want and, frequently, other tools (ink pads, embellishments, and sometimes dies that live just as long–it’s a great way to build your stash if you’re just starting out.
Once again, this has not been a sponsored post at all. I’m just a happy camper who loves seeing Simon show up on my front porch each month
