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Friday, February 12, 2010

It Started with a Mistake

It started with a MISTAKE, folks. The shadow stamp--which is four blocks on one stamp from Hero Arts (discontinued)--inked up funny. I was trying to make a card for the CAS53 challenge. I needed a nice, smooth aqua background, but the Ancient Page ink pad, which is sort of wet, was leaving edge lines on the stamp. So I tried swirling the pad on the stamp and stamped it. OH. MY. GOSH!!!! Swirly underwatery look! AND I WENT WITH IT!!!!



I grabbed my fish punch, the A Muse coral stamp designed by JulieHRR herself, and the sentiment that fit best space-wise and font-wise (PTI's Friends 'til the End). How fun is this?!?!

But please, please, please tell me I'm not the only human of the AR/OC grammarian type to be bothered by missing punctuation in sentiments. Adding a comma by hand would look just weird here and it bothers me.

Once I finished this card, I used SU's cool caribbean with the shadow stamp, which inked up beautifully, and made the second card on this post. I really like both cards for different reasons.

Mistakes can pay off if you turn your head sideways and squint.

That's Simplicity Wisdom. So go out and make some mistakes and see what happens.

28 comments:

  1. Susan, you're a genius! I love everything about this card. Your "mistake" ended up looking just perfect for this. The fish looking at each other is so cute. The sentiment (even without that comma I agree it should have!) goes great with the fish, and the colors just make this card. This is just a perfect card. Whoever gets this will be thrilled when they open it. Wonderful creativity, Susan!

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  2. In real life it should have a comma but I'm able to accept it as it is...cards like this are fine....I don't have a problem with them...however if you were sending to your maiden Auntwho was a stickler for good grammar....you could add a comma - how? - just thought that the PTI raindrop from Scattered Showers might, upside down, just might, do although I suspect it may be a little too big...just a thought.

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  3. I love it when mistakes turn into something this perfect! I want to get that coral stamp in the worst way.

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  4. GET OUT!! This is TOO CUTE!! Dont you just love it when we can take our mistakes and do something wonderful like this...Ok you are really making me want to get that punch and coral stamp...hehe...

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  5. Loooooove It! *said in Weezie from Dragon Tales voice*

    Really really fantastic.

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  6. This is so sweet, Susan! I love your little fishies!

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  7. Oh Erin. this is awesome! Mistakes are a "good thing"! Such a fun card!

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  8. Susan, do you have a mini-alphabet set tht you can use to add a comma?

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  9. And you know what? You could just take a fine-point marker and free-hand your own comma! Of course, then you take the chance of screwing up the whole card if you don't draw a perfect comma.....

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  10. Sue, I've actually tried doing that before and messed up an otherwise lovely card. I've also used commas from alphabet stamp sets in the past, but they never quite work. They are too big, too small, too heavy, too something.

    Sigh.

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  11. LOL at "if you turn your head sideways and squint"! You really did make something lovely out of a mistake. The missing comma bothers me too, but I think your solution, switching ink colors, really helps. It also helps that there is a font change into a wacky font. If it were just two words in identical size and font, I couldn't stand it. Anyway, great card!

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  12. I love the swirls! I usually swirl my ink pad on solid images for coverage, but then I go back and 'tap' them to remove the swirls. But they are PERFECT here!

    And I am a red pen gal, so yes, missing punctuation makes me crazy. I would have added the comma to I could sleep at night. :-)

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  13. I love your "mistake" - it really is perfect! Instead of a comma I sometimes will put a "..." if I'm continuing the sentiment on the inside.

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  14. There are no mistakes--only opportunities to go a different direction! ;) And, I love the direction you too. With hugs, from a fellow AR/OC grammarian type who is ALWAYS annoyed by missing punctuation in sentiments, as well as misquoted expressions such as "You can't eat your cake and have it, too."

    What a wretched lot we are, eh?! ROTFL!

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  15. Mis-takes are just first-takes; what matters is the final product! And this one is as good as ever. (I would not have noticed a 'missing comma' and I was a school teacher! And a writer...editor...so, I think, this one is an optional extra, not to be worried over.)

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  16. I love the layout, and I like the flower one on your other post. Love the swirly water! The sentiments are just right for the space.

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  17. Another perfect card! And while I can -- just barely -- live without the comma, I would NOT be able to send it to my mother-in-law! :P

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  18. I love these colors together. They are just so fun. Missing punctuation and/or capitals used to bug me. So I try really hard to ignore them now.

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  19. I love your comment that "mistakes can pay off if you turn your head sideways and squint" ~ that is so funny and a fabulous way to deal with things that don't go *as planned* ... sort of when a card hands you lemons, make lemonade!!!

    I love your comments as much as your cards :o)

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  21. Yes, punctuation errors & spelling errors bother me, but more so on public signs! Makes a business look stupid!

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  22. thanks for the clarification on the stamp - I love it!! Retired hey....might need to look for it on ebay or something! Awesome job with the alternative style stamped background!! wow!!

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  23. Very clever way to re-purpose a mis-stamp. This is a cute underwater scene.

    I am a also a member of the AC/OCD club. I am a big stickler for proper grammer and spelling myself. I cringe when I see people use the wrong form of a word (like your for you're). And my hubby will vouch for the fact that I yell at the tv to correct the actors when they use an adjective instead of an adverb :-)

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  24. I call these serendipitous moments - "Happy Happenstances".

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  25. Is there such a thing as a perfect mistake??
    I think so because you have certainly created one here...
    Hey, I'm scared to write anything now I know there are so many of you out there that I could offend with my bad grammar .....LOL ;)

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  26. How many ways have I tried to simulate water, so I can use my many fish stamps? DOZENS! All without success, but none by swirling the ink pad. So I'm taking your card as my sanction to trash the fish stamps if I can't succeed by swirling the ink pad.

    Your card also sanctions me to STOP trying to fix the bad grammar of rubber stamp-makers because you're right, it NEVER works and I've wrecked too many cards by adding a "simple" comma with a Micron pen.

    Lately it seems punctuation and proper grammar are VERY low on the totem pole of skills prized by writers/editors. Missing commas are EVERYWHERE, just to bug us OCD-types!

    What a relief that you are always here to "make my day"!

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  27. I love this cute card, as I love almost all of your designs! I recently discovered your blog and look forward to getting notice of your new posts every day. And, yes, I, too, am grammar and punctuation obsessive-compulsive! I sometimes do add commas or other punctuation to stamped greetings, but since in this example the words are on different lines and in different fonts, I think of it as "graphic style" and it's not so important. I feel bad when I see mistakes published (on paper or electronically), especially 'your' for 'you're' and my pet peeve: 'it's' for the possessive 'its,' both of which I see every day. Anyway, I love your style and look forward to your creations daily.

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  28. No mistake here...this turned out great! Don't you love it when that happens?!

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Thank you so much for taking time to comment!