Thursday, October 8, 2015

Jazz Up a Christmas Card

Regular readers know that one of my favorite things to do with a two-layer, white-on-white card--when it needs a little something extra--is to outline the top layer with a metallic marker. So easy, so pretty!

When I made today's card, however, outlining the top layer wasn't enough, and there's a good design reason why. First, let's look at the card.



The central panel has a LOT going on...dark colors, no white space, random placement. When I put the panel on the plain card base, the whole thing looked...incomplete. Framing it with an additional outline of gold seemed like a good idea in my head.

And it was in real life, too.

That's something to celebrate, people!

Sort of like I'm celebrating the fact they found the escaped cobra in Florida. Not so happy they gave the thing back to the guy who let it escape in the first place, though. But thrilled the woman who found it in her dryer didn't get bitten.

Back to the card. It seems that when the stamped panel is so very, very dark and busy, a simple white mat may not be quite enough. Uniting the white base with the panel by outlining it the same way brings the whole thing together well.

By the way, I'm never doing laundry again.

Supplies
stamps: Papertrey Peaceful Pinecones
ink: pigment
paper: Papertrey white
accessories: gold metallic marker, dimensionals

8 comments:

  1. Yep it totally works with both panel and card base done with that smidge of gold.
    One time I was down waterskiing, middle of summer, very very hot.
    I was also very very pregnant, leaning against the car watching them get ready to ski. Looked down and nearly had a heart attack, theres a 6 foot brown snake sunning itself about three foot infront of me.

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  2. You nailed it. I really like the way you analyze and then explain what you've done when making your cards. These bits of advice are hidden in my brain only to jump out whenever I have hesitations while making a card. About the laundry, not much chance of a snake wandering into our Michigan home, but, if that had been a spider (of ANY size) my dryer would now be trashed.

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  3. "By the way, I'm never doing laundry again." This is why Simplicity is the first blog I read in the morning! Oh, ya...the stamping, and design, and advice too. ;)

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  4. Now I see why some of my cards have not been quite together! Brilliant! Thank you! I so needed this advice! I love this card btw, it is so rich and simply gorgeous! Lucky recipient!

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  5. Good reason to go on a laundry strike. Have you noticed that Florida is a real hotbed of craziness lately? All crazy news stories seem to come from Florida. Gorgeous card!

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  6. That is a great card. Definitely no more laundry. Safety first!

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Thank you so much for taking time to comment!