I have a bunch of premade cards (6.25" x 4.5") that have languished in my stash for a while. I decided to try using some of them for one-layer, completely FLAT cards using Shady Tree Studio's Holly Jolly set, which is so very pretty...and quite easy to color with colored pencils.
The first card was sort of for the CAS challenge at SCS last week, to use pink, blue, kraft, and green on a card. The berries are pink rather than red, something I would only have done for a challenge but it sure was fun to get wacky and violate nature's colors, LOL! I did add pink Stickles to the berries, just because. I guess I should upload this card to the CAS challenge gallery. I've fallen woefully behind on those challenges.
The next two cards use the same classic layout with images that are roughly the same size. Here's what I don't like about pre-made cards...you can't make the fold on the short edge. I'd much prefer that these two be folded at the top.
Why? I have no idea. I'm just weird.
This last card is a little more "original" in placement of the border. I actually trimmed about 0.5" off the left side of this card to make it more balanced because I couldn't extend the border just a little with stamping. It needed to cover 2/3 of the width of the card, and it fell just a bit short. If something doesn't quite balance, don't be afraid to trim your card to make it balance. This is actually my favorite of the four cards. Something about that border just hanging there in all that white space speaks to me of trust and faith.
I told you I was weird.
BTW, I know many of you don't follow my Questioning my Intelligence blog, but if you're interested, I wrote an essay a few weeks ago titled Craving White Space in a Carnival World. Since you like the cards here, you might like that essay, too.
Supplies
stamps: Shady Tree Studio
ink: Palette dark chocolate (first card), noir (the rest of them)
paper: pre-made cards from Marco's Paper
accessories: Prisma Colored Pencils, Stickles (only on the first card, though)
Beautiful simple cards, great inspiration. Blogger is a naughty boy/girl!!!
ReplyDeleteRead your very interesting article, went through a similar experience when young married but couldn't really get over the craving of order so subdued it, now it's dormant and life's random, will scream later:0) xx
Love these cards. I agree with you on not being able to fold the card top to bottom. I'm moving more toward that type of folding and pre-scored cards don't let you do that.
ReplyDeleteI read your other blog and I totally agree with you. My children are grown now, but I see that they've adopted some of the same values that I had with them as children with their children. I think organized sports are great; however, when my kids were growing up, they were each allowed only one extracurricular activity at a time. If the choice was to play volleyball, then that was it for the season. I also didn't allow them to drop out of a sport until the season was over. It made them think much more carefully before deciding which sport they wanted to participate in each year. We had supper as a family most every night until they got old enough to have jobs...which I required so that they could pay their insurance in order to drive the car. They were required to keep their grades up if they wanted to work (and drive the car), and had to coordinate any extra-curricular activities with the job...and still we managed to have dinner together most evenings. I also did not allow them to have a television in their bedrooms, so we could spend more time together as a family.
Some people thought I was hard on my children, but I look at them now and I see 3 well adjusted, self-supporting, wonderful adults with great values and ethics...and I feel like I did a good job with them (with a lot of help from God!)
Our life was always busy, but we did manage to have "white space". It's important...not just for the kids, but for the adults as well.
Thank you for directing us to the "craving white space" essay. It really spoke to me. I retired almost two years ago and thought I'd have all the time in the world, but I seem to have filled it up too much - which I did because I live alone and was worried about being lonely without the regular socialization of work. So now my dilemma is whether or not to give up one of the volunteer activities I do so that I have more time for my friends, family, dogs, garden, and hobbies, or just try and be more organized time-wise.
ReplyDeleteOne of my first goals for retirement was to de-clutter my whole house - I'm making slow progress on it, having done my clothes and my little study, and am now working on my craft room (which is very very hard to do as it requires getting rid of the stuff I don't use!!).
I find my garden is the best place for me to find white space - nothing relaxes me more than sitting under a tree with a good book, a pot of tea, flowers blooming nearby, the sound of birds. I need to make more time for that next summer.
I love today's cards, and thanks for the explanation on the last one and trimming it down to keep the border on two thirds of it.
You are truly the queen of one-layer cards! These are beautiful in their simplicity.
ReplyDeleteI always like my folds to be at the top - regardless of whether they are horizontal or vertical. So I understand your obsession with your fold preference.
ReplyDeleteThese are all so simple and cute.