Two Ovals Get Grounded

Today's cards demonstrate the effect of grounding...that is, anchoring a design element to the card. It's not always necessary, in my opinion, to ground every element every time...some of my favorite layouts involve an image floating in vast, glorious white space. But generally, good designs ground their elements.

Take a look-see at the two cards:

First, note how large the sentiment is on the first card. There's very little white space on that oval, so the grounding boughs need to be balanced to that idea. They carry good visual weight on the card. Also, the asymmetry of the pine cones adds interest and moves the eye from upper left to lower right...a natural movement that fits into how we read the sentiment in between!

Now, consider all that white space on the second card. The oval is smaller than on the first card, and the sentiment doesn't carry much visual weight, even if its color scheme is punchy. The holly sprigs (made from green velvet paper...not quite as dark as the photo implies) are spiky/curvy like the letters and leave plenty of white space on the card. Your eye is kept very tightly on the smaller focal point, without a lot of movement at all.

I like both of these cards and think both have solid design in them, although (surprise!) the second makes me happier with all that glorious white space.

Which do you prefer and why?


Supplies
stamps: Papertrey various
ink: Memento
paper: Papertrey
accessories: Creative Memories oval cutter, dimensionals, holly punch

Update on Jonah's Cards

Well, Blogger's not letting me add pictures at this time, so today's card post will be late. But several of you have asked about the cards for Jonah, and I thought I'd update you.

So far, I have received 37 pieces of mail for Jonah and his family. (You can keep track of what's coming in on this PAGE of my blog.)

All that mail is in my dining room right now in an adorable gift bag for delivery. I'd planned on taking them to him today, but today is his chemo day, so delivery day will be Monday or Tuesday. By then, who knows how many pieces there will be? I got 8 pieces yesterday!

Requests for my address are still coming in. Email me at susanraihala at roadrunner dot com if you want it! I've had requests from South Africa, Germany, the Netherlands, Australia, France, Canada, and who knows how many other countries that weren't obvious from the email addresses!

Several people have expressed a desire to continue sending cards after Christmas. I will deliver cards as long as they are coming in, so don't worry about that.

As for Jonah, he's in the middle of chemo, and for those of you who've been there, done that, you know it's not fun. He's holding up extraordinarily well but has some pain and complications. If you want to follow his progress, I encourage you to check out his Facebook page. His mother, Molly, is keeping everyone updated on his progress and also uses this Facebook page to make specific prayer requests.

Jonah's Facebook Page

Jonah will be receiving some scans today to see if there are tumors developing elsewhere in his body. He's considered at stage 3 with Wilms Tumor, with some lymph node involvement.

I hate cancer. It's scary, it hurts, the treatment is horrible, and it throws families into a terrible storm of fear and worry. There's so little we non-medical folks can do to help those fighting it. Thanks to Jonah's grandmother Jane, we learned about Jonah's situation, and thanks to Molly, we can do our little part to bring some love and light to a family in a very dark time.

My heart overflows with gratitude that so many of you have chosen to participate in this card drive, and I know that many of you are involved in helping others who are suffering or might even be fighting this terrible thing yourself.

Some of you are Chemo Angels. Chemo Angels send cards and encouragement to people undergoing chemo treatment. You can learn more about this wonderful organization at their website: Chemo Angels. What a perfect fit for stampers!

Thank you all for being the best readers a blogger to have. 

Missing You: A Comparison of Designs

Here are a couple more "missing you" cards I made for the troops. Compare the two and decide which works better. Then scroll down for my analysis and see if you agree with me!

Note the holes in the circles.

Note the missing hexagon.

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Keep scrolling.

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You're almost there.

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I prefer the second card for three reasons:

1. Because the sentiment placement makes more sense in the second card. It seems like an afterthought on the first card. You really could put any sentiment you wanted on that first card, and it would be okay. That can signal a lack of unity in the design.

2. The colors of the second reinforce the sentiment very subtly. I skipped orange on the spectrum. See what I did there? Oh, yeah. The first has a fun color scheme, but it doesn't particularly mean anything.

3. The scale of the sentiment works better with the slightly larger hexagons than it does with the circles. It's just a little too large on the first card.

Do you agree?


Supplies
stamps: Papertrey Dot Spot, Happy Hexagons, Paper Tray
ink: Memento
paper; Papertrey
accessories: dimensionals

One-Layer Wednesday #169: Season of Love

This week's One-Layer Wednesday is prompted by an Operation Write Home deadline. All Valentine's Day cards must be in by December 31st. So let's make a batch of Valentine's Day cards for the troops!

Of course, if you don't send cards to OWH, you can still get a head start on your Valentines or make a general "love you" card for someone special. What a neat surprise to get a non-holiday card during the holidays. And you get to stamp something other than reindeer, Santa, and holly. (Can you tell I'm a little sick of Christmas stamping? Of course you can! Stamping 270 ornaments will do that to a woman. I just bought 60 Christmas cards and am feelin' fine.)

If, however, you're stuck in the holiday rut and feeling the pressure to churn out those Christmas cards, make a one-layer holiday card with the word "love" on it, and I'll count it. We're not sticklers around here about much except keeping it one layer.

Here's my card.

Anyone who says CAS is easy should know that I tried four different times to incorporate a sentiment in this design and it just didn't work. So I stamped Happy Valentine's Day on the inside and called it good.

So your challenge today, should you choose to accept it, is to make a Season of Love card...something themed for love. If you make something to give to OWH, I'll give you a gold star.

OLW169 Rules

1. A one-layer card is defined as a single layer of card stock folded in half...no other layers allowed!!!

2. Make a card themed about love...Valentine's Day, general "love you," or some other card that focuses on love. Remember to keep embellishments to a minimum.

3. Post your card online somewhere and link to it using the InLinkz box on the sidebar of Simplicity. (The link box will go live Wednesday morning after I've had a cuppa.) If you link to your blog, make sure that it's to the OLW169 post and not to your home page.

4. The most important rule of all is to HAVE FUN!!!!

Supplies
stamps: Papertrey Heart Prints, Hero Arts shadow
ink: Memento pink, SU real red
paper: Papertrey Ink
accessories: not a single one!

To Sandra from Germany...

Your email is undeliverable. Please email me again and I'll send you the address for cards for Jonah!

Tag Variation

Using Peaceful Poinsettia from Papertrey and a Hero Arts sentiment, I created two Christmas tags. Which do you like best?

5 1/2" x 2 1/8

5 1/2" x 2 1/8"

I can't honestly pick a favorite, but perhaps you feel strongly one way or the other.

Do you make tags? If so, do you buy plain wrapping paper and make the tags however you want, or do you make the tags to match a particular wrapping paper? Inquiring minds, and all that....

A Reminder!
For everyone who's sending cards to Jonah...you can check to see if your card has arrived by clicking HERE.

Supplies
stamps: Papertrey Ink, Hero Arts
ink: VersaColor
paper: Papertrey
accessories: rhinestones, corner rounder, 1/8" satin ribbon

OLW168...A Card with Bling

Karen's fabulously timely One-Layer Wednesday Challenge this week is to use sparkle or bling on your card. I made a Christmas card with non-traditional colors and some very fun bling!

This card combines Signature Christmas and Faux Ribbon--both from Papertrey--for a graphic, modern pink-and-green Christmas card. Woo-hoo!

Memento's pear tart on a Christmas card...seems wrong somehow, but oh how I love that shade of green!

Great challenge, Karen!

Supplies
stamps: Papertrey Signature Christmas, Faux Ribbon
ink: Memento
paper: Papertrey
accessories: rhinestones, gridded acrylic block for lining everything up so gosh darn perfectly!