Tuesday, May 27, 2014

You Are...Chopped

The You Are set from Clearly Besotted contains several circles decorated  for use as flower centers, but I prefer keeping the flower centers rather plain. As I used this set for my Use-Your-Stamps challenge (which is why you're seeing so many cards with it lately), I wanted to use those flower centers a bit differently. Lining them up for a simple border seemed a great idea!


The bottom inch or so of the card got chopped, however, to distance the straight sentiment (from Gina K) and the row of small and large circles. I love the effect, and wanted to accent it with a silver metallic pen.

Yay, me!

Now, if you go to Gina K's website, you'll find this sentiment set, Assorted Sentiments, which is one of my favorites. But you'll notice that the Thinking of You sentiment has an ellipsis at the end of it. You know, the [...] punctuation mark that indicates something else is coming or something has been left out. I didn't like that, so I cut it off. Not a radical change, but I'm much happier now.

My friend Leslie cuts her sentiments apart if she wants to put words on different lines. Aaaaaaack! I couldn't do that. At least, I don't think I could. I would worry that I'd never get them lined up again. But I heartily approve of other people doing such things.

What about you? Do you cut clear or rubber stamps apart when you want to use only parts? Or do you consider altering stamps to be the stamping equivalent of ax murder?

Supplies
stamps: Clearly Besotted (circles), Gina K (sentiment)
ink: VersaColor ocean depth, Memento Luxe black
paper: Papertrey Ink
accessories: Prismacolor silver metallic pen, metal ruler

11 comments:

  1. Love this Susan, so perfectly CAS :D
    I have to admit I cut my stamps up mercilessly. I didn't always to it without trepidation but now my snipping knows no bounds. It is such a boon when trying to find the right design element or word for a sentiment. As long as I take care, when I store them, no real harm is done and they usually go back together quite easily. :D Gay x

    ReplyDelete
  2. I cut them all the time. If you do cut, don't cut them straight across. Add a curve or something so that it easily fits back together like a jigsaw puzzle when you want it back together!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Turning the circles into a border is a lovely idea. I have only cut a couple of sentiments. It took me years to get up the nerve to do so. I'm reluctant to cut them - scared is a better word - LOL!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Definitely cut my stamps to suit my needs. I used to only cut my photopolymer stamps but have started doing the same with my rubber stamps as well. Sure makes my stamps that much more useful. Besides, I tried inking only the portion I wanted to stamp and always ended up with a smudge somewhere on my card that couldn't be remedied with a strategically placed embellishment. Do love your card...just perfect!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Great idea on using the centres as circles. They look great, very effective look.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I have cut my clear stamp sayings and it is very freeing for me. I get more use out of the sayings using them partially or in a different view.
    stamping sue
    http://stampingsueinconnecticut.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  7. I have cut several of mine apart, too, and completely agree with the advice already given. Do not make a perfect straight cut, instead go curvy or crooked, or even a shallow V shape, and it will be a snap to line them back up in the original configuration if that's what you want later.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Good Morning Susan! Another gorgeous CAS card! I love the fun fold with the chop. One of my favorite things is to see if I can use a die or stamp another way. Love your use of flower centers.

    I am with you on the cutting apart the sentiment of words because I have a horrible time getting things straight so I haven't cut sentiments but I just recently cut an image stamp. I didn't like the way a bud was designed so I cut it off! After stamping without it I realized it didn't look quite right so I dug the bud out of the trash but when I added it back I did it in such away that the bud wasn't so huge. I think my little surgery worked out well. Most of the time when I don't want part of the sentiment I just mask off the areas I don't want because what if I want them some day! :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. I have been known to cut my poly stamps - I can see to re line them up. Not so much with the rubber stamps. I really like the chopped card today - way to use the stamps in an alternate way.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Great card, Susan. Love the flower centers to border look. Getting the most out of your stamps is awesome. Cut them? Nope. Can't do it. My remedy is to mask the heck out of the stamp and line things up super carefully. It works for me. Can't take the tags off my pillows either...lol! Bev

    ReplyDelete
  11. Wonderful card, Susan. As always I like your style :-)

    Once I cut one of my clear stamps apart (for the "just add water" theme challenge (in April) over at the OLSC blog). This was the first and also the last time, I am sure. ;-)

    Boy that was hard. I felt like beeing actress in "Texas Chainsaw Massacre", LOL!

    Don't know why, but ripping, cutting or altering any stamps is such a bad feeling, for me, it's wrong :-(

    Yes, it was helpful to cut the long HA sentences in two pieces and easier to get a perfect image but I am not sure if I will do something similar in future...

    I prefer using masking tape and my stamp-a-ma-jig to get a great images without hurting any of these poor little stamps :-)

    Have a great day,

    Sandra

    ReplyDelete

Thank you so much for taking time to comment!