OWH Calls out for Miss You Cards

Operation Write Home needs Miss You cards...at least that's what I read on their Facebook feed. So I made some. With Miss You cards, I like to emphasize the emptiness and/or loneliness of the sentiment in whatever graphic element I use.

Nailed it!

Just think...from a design standpoint, here's an instance where trapped white space is a good thing!

(Psst: If you've forgotten or don't know what trapped white space is, read about it here.)

Take a peek through your stash and look for items that have holes in them. If you find a few, whip up some Miss You cards for OWH. That's one sentiment the soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines feel the whole time they are deployed.

Supplies
stamps: Papertrey Square Prints, Sign Language
ink: Memento
paper: Papertrey Ink
accessories: none!

Color

My recent Papertrey order included Think Big #7 because, really, can you have too many big sentiments? Of course not, especially when they are just $5. I needed a few get well/thinking of you cards, so I pulled out a floral silhouette stamp from Clear and Simple Stamps and played with color.

First up: Monochromatic

The soft purple here is so soothing and calm. This would be a great card for someone who's going through a really stressful time, especially if there's no quick fix for it, don't you think?


Next: Happy Colors

This card, in contrast, has a lot of energy in the colors. Bahama Blue and Pear Tart are perk-me-up colors, and seem to imply that the illness is short-term and easily overcome.
I once received a sympathy card, handmade by a friend, that really should have been a birthday card. It's cheerful, perky colors shocked me in my grief and felt inappropriate. The friend's expression of sympathy in person was very appropriate, but I still remember that card.

Do colors affect you emotionally, beyond just a personal preference? Do you think about the effect of color and how it relates to the message of your cards, or is that too obsessive-compulsive for you?

Supplies
stamps: CSS, Papertrey
ink: Memento
paper: PTI
accessories: Corner Chomper

Before, Before, and After: Evolution of a Bling-Worthy Card

You know how sometimes you have an idea? It seems like a good one, to make the sentiment the focal point and have the flower in the background, and so you dive right in. And something like this happens:

What NOT to Do.

Ahhhhhh!!!!! My eyes!!!!! Too busy, too heavy, too blech. So you try again, figuring that a different layout and color balance might help:

Still What NOT to Do.

Ewwww. Not so much. Only now do you realize that this particular sentiment will NEVER work with this particular flower because the sentiment is too heavy and the flower too whispy.

It was a good idea that shouldn't have seen the light of day.

So you fall back and punt. (Yes, I'm mixing metaphors. Sorry about that.)

Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner!

Now you're onto something! Something worthy of bling. The flower, not the sentiment, is the true focal point, and the sentiment takes its proper place. Balance, harmony, and pretty lines. What isn't to love?

Thanks so much for all the emails and advice regarding my friend. I've passed some of them on to her and will pass others later. Blessings to you all.

A Personal Note; Design Discussion; A Question; More Questions; A Shockingly Long Post

A Personal Note

Happy Monday (or Sunday night, depending on when you read this). We're home safe and sound and will get our Furry Golden Sunshine out of the kennel Monday afternoon. I can't imagine the wagging and whimpering and shedding and licking that's about to happen to us. She's never been separated from us for this long.


Design Discussion
 Let's discuss the concept of unity. It's Monday, and I have two cards that illustrate the idea pretty well, so why the heck not?

First, I made a white-based card, with a white stamped layer and a cherry cobbler scallop border. My idea was to play with two sides of a card space...image on one side, sentiment on the other...to achieve balance.

Sadly, it was a good idea that shouldn't have seen the light of day, mainly because the resulting card lacks unity. Unity is what brings a whole card together. Unity comes from all the parts relating to each other in a pleasing way. Unity is vital to clean and simple design.

Unity is the same as a happy marriage; everyone relates, everyone gets along, everyone sleeps in one big bed. On the above card, there's a big strip of duct tape running down the bed.

This is not unity.

So I used the same basic layout but brought the image and sentiment together on a single panel, or bed, if you will. Also, using the colored card base helps tighten the focus on the image and sentiment. Please note that the green ink matches the card base much better in real life...for some reason, the camera or editing software makes it look much darker than it is.

Another thing I like about this card is how the scallops make more sense, echoing the dots of the tree much better than the swirls on the tree in the first card. That echo enhances the sense of unity, too. A more graphic font on the sentiment might have worked better, but I really like Papertrey's Signature Christmas, and this little Noel fit. Plus, I like the curvy contrast to the graphic dots of the tree.

My marriage is a little eclectic. But we get along surprisingly well.

So here's an informal challenge for you: make over a card you've already made to enhance the sense of unity. It's fun!

Reader Question

Some of you have told me you opt for mass production of a single card design for your holiday cards because you would spend too much time deciding who got which card. I, on the other hand, would go certifiably bonkers making more than about five of any single design, so I end up with about 120 unique cards to mail.

Cassandra asked if the amount of bling on a card affects my choice of recipient. Well, Cassandra, the short answer is no. In fact, I have no system for who gets what cards because it would take a ridiculous amount of time to fret over it, and I prefer my holidays to be as fret-free as possible.

Sometimes bulky cards with big bows or knots or lots of bling go to people who are also receiving packages from me, or they are hand-delivered to local friends and neighbors to prevent damage in the mail.

For some recipients (very close family and friends), I do pick a Christmas card that I think they would appreciate...one that might be special for them or that, as soon as I finished, made me think, "Gee, Liz would love this card!" Often, these are the simpler cards because so many of my artsy friends and family have said they love my simpler designs. But I truly don't worry about how much money or product goes into a single card destined for any particular person. For me, every handmade card I send is special.

Once Christmas cards leave my hands, their fate is decided by the recipient. I don't worry about it. Some people keep them forever, most probably pitch them as soon as Christmas is over. My sister actually frames my cards and uses them as Christmas decorations. That's pretty cool, but she's my sister. She HAS to love me. I seriously wonder if I would have a different attitude if a single Christmas card took three hours to make. As it is, the CAS style means that I rarely have more than an hour in a single card (and most are WAY quicker).

I keep all the handmade Christmas cards I receive, posting them on my inspiration board in my craft room for a time and then putting them in photo boxes to keep.

My Questions

Do you consider the amount of time/money/product you put into a Christmas/holiday card when you make one for a specific person? How do you feel about your cards' fates at the hands of recipients? What do you do with handmade cards you receive?

Tweaking When Something Almost Works

Sometimes, you have a great idea. You know it's going to look super-cool and make you giggle with glee. Then, you execute the idea and, well, it just doesn't turn out quite as you wanted.

Sometimes, the mistake is insurmountable and requires the services of a circular file. But most of the time, you can work around it or cover it up, if you just think outside the box.

When I sat down to make this one-layer card, I expected to use the rock-and-roll technique to ink the oval table so it was shaded like the copic-colored coffee mugs. But when I stamped the oval, it looked icky. The darker tangelo ink didn't blend well with the canteloupe and looked awkward. It's a one-layer card, so there's no place to hide the mistake. Instead, I pulled out my colored pencils and created the shading the rock-and-roll technique did not give me.

And it is good.

Don't you love this sentiment? Caffeine sure makes me feel this way!

What is your drink of choice? I'm generally a black coffee drinker, but I also enjoy some herbal teas, hot chocolate, mochas, frappes, and other foofy drinks. 

I like wine, too, but that's a whole different stamp set, LOL!

Supplies
stamps: A Muse
ink: Memento
paper: Gina K (perfect for coloring with copics because it doesn't bleed through!)
accessories: Corner Chomper, copic markers, colored pencils

Inspiration Takes an Unusual Direction, Part 2 and a Critique

Inspired by the rad texture of peat pot cards in Take Ten, I pulled out several different textured papers and played, just to see what would happen. Sometimes, as with yesterday's card, playing around works happily. Sometimes, well, it doesn't quite hit the mark.

Today's card uses papyrus, some lovely textured white cardstock from Marco's Papers, and some handmade inclusion paper that has rose petals, twigs, and leaves imbedded in it. It's also an example of good things taken just a bit too far. I'd like to share my analysis of what went wrong, particularly as it relates to adapting collage/shabby styles to clean-and-simple design.

I'm not fishing for compliments...just sharing my thoughts in the hope that they will help inspire you to play around and not to be afraid of making something you don't like.

I don't like this card nearly as much as yesterday's card mainly because it's not as visually simple. The punched bird has a lot going on with it...the petal on its wing and the twig on its body, combined with the handmade texture of the paper are a LOT to look at. Add the two differently toned buttons with twine, the rough natural edge of the papyrus, and the curly sentiment, and the card crosses the line from CAS to, well, I'm not sure what, but it's not exactly CAS, is it?

Also, the balance is off. The ivory bird and button need a third element to ground them visually, and I thought the white base would do that...but it doesn't. Perhaps it's because the papyrus panel is just a titch too big. Perhaps the layout itself is simply not effective. Perhaps the sentiment needs more visual weight. Whatever. It's a card that almost works but, in the end, doesn't.

I love all the individual elements of this card....I just should have limited how many I used and rearranged them a bit. This bird card shows how tempting it is to keep adding more stuff...and how in the interest of clean-and-simple design, more stuff often isn't better.

But you never know what will happen if you don't even try.

The Great Cover-Up

Often my experimenting goes awry. Sometimes, the results are not salvageable. Mostly, however, I can save the card if I think about it hard enough.

Today's card was salvaged in a great cover-up. Go, me!!!

I tried using washi tape as the ground for these trees from SU's Trendy Trees set. It just didn't look right, so I pulled it up. I'd always pulled up washi tape without a problem, but this time, it pulled the top layer of the paper with it. Darn it all.

So I cut a piece of old olive cardstock and drew a pencil line on it. Then, I cut along the line using mini-scallop scissors, being careful to line up the scallops with each cut. (Remember when using deco scissors to NEVER, EVER, under any circumstances close the scissors completely before you cut all the way across. It messes up the cut!)

I glued the old olive strip onto the card, effectively covering up the disaster. No one will ever know.

Well, no one would know if I hadn't just told the entire Internet.

I decided the green was too heavy, so I layered white twill on it to lighten it up. Rounded corners on the bottom further lighten the green and echo the rounded foliage of the trees and the scallop edge.

And THAT is how you cover up a mistake, save some pretty two-step stamping, and make someone's birthday cheerier.

Someone once said that there are no mistakes in stamping, only opportunities for embellishment. More often than not, that someone is right.

What's with the Top Fold?

Someone asked why I make portrait-oriented cards with folds on the top rather than the side. Honestly, I hadn't really thought about it. No good reason, I guess, except that I find it easier to photograph them that way and they seem to stand up better for display.

Here's a portrait-oriented card with a top fold. See how nicely it stands for its picture?

Now, here's a landscape-oriented picture with a top fold. It also stands nicely.

As far as I know, there are no rules about folds. I certainly don't judge folds. In fact, you can fold any way you want and as long as you're not hurting anyone, it's okay in my book.

Orientation, on the other hand, does have certain design rules, but those pertain to balance and harmonious composition for each individual card. Neither orientation is right or wrong in and of itself; orientation is a case-by-case issue, as these two cards show.

And by the way, I don't judge orientation, either.

Supplies
stamps: Shady Tree Studio Eastertide (a gift from STS's owner Nancy)
ink: Palette noir
paper: Papertrey white
accessories: colored pencils, dimensionals, scallop scissors

Geeking out with Colored Cardstock

Seeing the yummy, yummy colors of cardstock in the A Muse catalog made me feel really bad. I have a ton of cardstock already...more cardstock than a woman could use up in a decade of obsession.

Also, let me point out that there is absolutely nothing wrong with the cardstock I've collected. I only have top-quality cardstock. Period. I learned years ago that cheap cardstock makes cheap-looking cards. I'm just falling victim to the powerful force of wanting something cool that I don't have. Don't judge me. You're guilty of it, too.

Anyway, I decided that if I really want to buy and use some of those fab new-to-me cardstocks in this lifetime, I need to start using the colored cardstock that I have. And of course, given my mental tendencies, I have to overthink it and try to come up with a system, a formula, a foreign policy of sorts for embracing a supply that, let's face it, I've neglected for years.

The result of this overthinking is Susan's First Theory of Using Colored Cardstock on CAS Cards.

I told you I was geeking out in the title of this post.

So, what's the CASest thing you can do with color? Monochromatic schemes, of course. So the First Theory states that the card base should be a light shade, the matte should be a darker shade of the same color, and the stamped panel should be white. The stamping should be simple, with a sentiment stamped in either dark brown or black, depending on what looks best with the color you choose.

Sort of like this.

 Bling optional.

Not really. Bling is necessary.

I made four of these in record time. Well, I made two with this sentiment and two with a Thank you sentiment because I just had to vary them somehow.

You'll be seeing more examples of the First Theory in the coming weeks. Because seriously, I'm geeking. I expect I'll also have to come up with a Second Theory eventually...because otherwise what's the point of having a first theory?

Happy Wednesday!

Supplies
stamps: Hero Arts
ink: Memento
paper: Mark's Finest, Papertrey
accessories: dimensionals, rhinestone

Setting Makes a Difference

Unfortunately, I am in need of a few sympathy cards, so I pulled out my soft pinks and browns. I chose a curved stem from Stem Silhouettes and nestled a small sentiment from Papertrey's Mixed Messages inside the curve. I love how the stem seems to be giving a hug to the words.

As much as I love white-on-white layering, sometimes it seems...lacking. That's the case here. I think this version is just so subtle that it's, well, boring.

So I decided to try a layer of Papertrey's sweet blush cardstock as a matte. That's definitely better. The stamped panel seems so much more anchored visually to the card.

But then I wondered if it wouldn't look even better and more balanced on a sweet blush card base with a close to cocoa matte.

Ding, ding, ding!!!!! We have a winner!!!!! Still clean and simple, but definitely the way to go with this particular combination of images and color.

If only the card weren't for such a sad occasion. *sigh*

Supplies
stamps: SU Stem Silhouettes, Papertrey Mixed Messages
ink: VersaColor cinnamon and umber
paper: Papertrey white, sweet blush; SU close to cocoa
accessories: dimensionals

Design Tutorial on Rectangle Cards

In my first semester teaching Freshman Composition, I had a student bring a graded paper to me and ask, "Why did you add the commas there?" My mind was a total blank. I knew with absolute certainty that the commas belonged, but I'd forgotten why. I recovered nicely by saying, "Let's look that up in your handbook so you'll be able to find the answer yourself next time." Smooth, eh?

That night, I read the entire handbook to refresh my memory about the rules. And I've never again forgotten the rule about commas around nonrestrictive modifiers.

So when several people asked me how I'd come up with the sizes of the rectangles on this card, my first thought was that I'd just used the Force. I didn't think about them. I just made them.

But then, as I considered the question within the context of all I've studied about design in the past eight years, I realized that I've just internalized the rules enough that I don't consciously think about them. But they are there, nevertheless, working away for me every time I sit in my craft room.

I love rules. Especially this one because it's the heart of pretty much every card I make in one way or another.

The Rule of Thirds

This is what happens when I free-hand something, so now you know why I rubber-stamp whenever possible. But this crudely drawn chart shows the rule for card design perfectly...because it's not precise. It's a rough guestimate of thirds, and that is all you need. Seriously. These lines are the guides for most designs and they are very flexible. You can remove lines at will to create zones of white space and of stamping, as I did on this card, or you can use the top left or bottom right intersections of the lines (the sweet spots) for your focal point placement, or you can add borders along a line to anchor matted images on a card.

Here's a sketch of the actual card, including the precise measurements of the rectangles. The card is a standard 5.5" x 4.25" card.

As you can see, the blocks are arranged to take advantage of the rule of thirds...not exactly precisely, but close enough for government work.

Sizing
I started with the left-hand block by stamping the grass onto a scrap of cardstock and then cutting it down to about 2/3 the height of the card. Then I trimmed it a bit more and made it narrow. Then I stamped the smallest block and cut it out so it was about 1/3 the height of the grass block and wide enough to go across the card nicely...about twice as wide as the grass block. Finally, I did the same to the bigger block, but this time I did actually measure and do the math so it would fill the space available properly.

I do all my measuring and cutting with a craft knife and 6" square quilting ruler. The ruler is see-through, so I can place it directly over things and see exactly where I need to cut.

Spacing
The spacing of the blocks is critical...it's all got to be even or it'll look really unbalanced. The spacing between the rectangles themselves must be the same, and then the margins around the edge of the card must also be the same. To do this, I placed the rectangles on the card and fiddled with them until it all looked even. Then, I stamped the sentiment BEFORE popping up the rectangles because honestly, sometimes those dimensionals really get in the way of stamping.

Now, here's where I get a tiny bit obsessive. With all the blocks placed properly, I carefully remove one, apply SU dimensionals at top and bottom, then place it where it belongs WITH TWEEZERS. Then, I repeat until all blocks are stuck.

I hope this explains the process in a way that encourages you to loosen up and play with the rule of thirds in your own designs. It's important to realize that this layout "I" came up with isn't at all original to me. Let's face it. There's only so much you can do with a 5.5 x 4.25 canvas. Plus, this rule of thirds is tried and true and has been around for eons. I'll bet the ancient Greeks used it for designing their temples.

Now, the new card for today trades rectangles for squares, lines them up along the top horizontal line of thirds, and uses my new Martha Stewart bow punch.

Dang, that Papertrey Silent Night set is more than worth the $24 I paid for it!

Supplies
stamps: Papertrey Ink, Silent Night
ink: SU cherry cobbler, always artichoke
paper: Papertrey white
accessories: Martha Stewart bow punch, square punch, dimensionals, dark red rhinestones

Proportional Matting

Question from Yesterday: DonnaK asked where I buy Twinkling H2Os. I bought mine at Marco's Paper, a brick and mortar store in the Dayton area. But you can find them at the big craft stores (Michael's, Hobby Lobby, JoAnn's) and buy with a coupon!

Now on to today's post, which hopefully Blogger will post in a timely fashion....

Today's Tip is one of those that, on the one hand, seems like a no-brainer, but, on the other hand, makes life so much easier!

After getting sick of doing the same math over and over, I made a simple, handwritten index card, which I posted on my bulletin board right over my workspace, with a list of dimensions for cutting stamped panels to matte evenly on a standard 5 1/2" x 4 1/4" card. It lists the sizes for cutting panels in quarter-inch increments. (Those of you who live in countries where "standard" is different can easily adapt this idea for yourselves.)

I typed it up for those of you using American measures. Hopefully, you can save it and print it for your own use.

If I cut a 4 1/4" x 3" stamped, panel, for instance, all I have to do is move up a quarter inch to get the measurements for a 1/8" matte all the way around the stamped panel. For a thinner 1/16" matte (as on yesterday's card), it's easy enough to just add 1/8" to the dimensions of the stamped panel.

I hope this makes sense.

And here is a happy CAS card that utilized this little chart.

Design Discussion: Please note how I rooted the flowers in the open space provided by the sentiment. I just love the way that looks!!!!
Supplies
stamps: Shady Tree Studio
ink: Memento
paper: PTI white, SU brilliant blue
accessories: dimensionals.

Personal News: My son Jack, who has high-functioning autism, was released from private occupational therapy Wednesday! After four years, he's finally functionally appropriate for fine motor and hand-eye coordination! YIPPYYYYY! He continues to receive OT through our school district, but this is a wonderful milestone for him to meet...and one less regular therapy session to cart him to! His developmental pediatrician saw Jack yesterday and is blown away by his progress. Jack truly has blossomed in the past six months. He's even one of the best readers in his regular 2nd grade class! Needless to say, we're on Cloud 9 around here right now, and I just had to share!!!

Thanks, Angela H. and Nicole!

Kind stamper Angela sent me a card and some die cuts for All Booked Up, among other things, because she knows I don't have a die cut machine. What a sweetie!

This card uses one of the book plate die cuts she sent me.


Design Discussion: Oddly, this book plate looks too big on a standard 5.5" x 4.25" white card. Not sure why the proportions looked so off on white cardstock because when you see tomorrow's card, you'll see this same book plate on Almost Amethyst and it look quite smashing on the standard card size. But for white-on-white, it needed more room to breathe. This card is 6.25" x 4.5" and fits in a standard envelope I bought at Marco's in Dayton. I just love how it looks in rose bud and pear tart (both Memento inks).

Sets like All Booked Up have fairly detailed, large images like this book plate and the open book. For CAS purposes, I find these need very little added embellishment and work just fine all by their lonesomes. Of course, you could create a more elaborate base for the book plate, but then it wouldn't be clean and simple, would it?

The second thank-you on this post is to Nicole at I Think...Therefore I Blog, one of my favorites. She took time out of her busy life on Friday to drive to Madison and meet me for coffee. I really appreciate it and had such a lovely time meeting her face-to-face. The internet is awesome for bringing people into community, but it can't replace face-to-face for satisfying girl talk.

Today, we're driving home to Ohio from Madison. Check my Questioning blog for details, but race day ended with an interrupted marathon and time spent at the medical tent for severe dehydration. Disappointing but he will be fine.

All Booked Up

My recent PTI order included All Booked Up. Purchasing this set is a no-brainer for a bibliophile like me. I've already used all the image stamps on cards and will be showing you some of the results in the next few weeks. Really, though, I can't wait to make some book marks for Christmas gifts. How totally cool since so many of my friends and relatives also love books immoderately.

Contented sigh.

So here's the first card I'm going to share.


Design Tips: Since Nicole Heady used the text from Text Style for the background of some of the images, it really made using it on this card pretty obvious. Remember when I said how nice it is to buy lots of stamps from one company you love? This is why! Things can just coordinate so perfectly. The ribbon is cut to mimic a ribbon marker in a book. The pumpkin text provides a color complement to the dark blue of the stamped circle and ribbon. Using complementary colors gives added pop and interest to a very simple two-color scheme.

Have a great Labor Day. Tomorrow starts this month's Blog Hop for Mark's Finest Papers. I am so excited about this release, and I sure hope you enjoy my cards and projects. Frankly, I'm a bit giddy about them!

Scale Matters--Edited

I got a little punch crazy recently and made this card:


Oh how I love the colors, the layout, everything...except the scale of the sentiment. I thought the small sentiment (from PTI's Sign Language) would be perfectly understated, but instead, it's perfectly TOO LOST AND SMALL AND WIMPY!

So (after photographing it) I carefully removed the green strip (which I'd glued down) and replaced it with a larger sentiment from Simple Little Things (also by PTI). So much better!



Please note how I slightly rounded the four corners of the grid with scallop scissors. Oh, yeah. Deco scissors ARE cool.

Edited to Add: Lining everything up wasn't as hard as it looks. I just put the little squares on the big squares, glued the long strip down, then arranged the big squares on the card where I wanted them and started gluing them down using tweezers. No rulers involved.

Supplies
stamps: PTI
ink: Palette Noir
paper: SU cool caribbean, tempting turquoise, taken with teal, gable green
accessories: square punches, scallop scissors

Giddy, I Tell Ya!

About three years ago, I bought a set of photopolymer stamps at my LSS by October Afternoon called Love Notes. I intended the set for scrapbook pages and stored it with my small collection of stamps that I really only thought I'd use on pages, not cards. Fact is, I can't remember ever using this set before.

Well, yesterday, I pulled out that sadly neglected set and made this:


I'm GIDDY! And just look at that colored card base. Go, me!!!!!!

Design Discussion: White space doesn't have to be white. All that empty blue space is really white space. Really.

Supplies
stamps: October Afternoon
ink: Memories soft stone, SU real red
paper: SU bashful blue, PTI white
accessories: dimensionals, small hole punch

Stamping Off the Edge, Part Two

Large, irregularly shaped stamps present a special design dilemma. How do you use them pleasingly on a card? Stamp them off the edge of course.

WHAT NOT TO DO

This stamp from Embrace Life by StampinUp is gorgeous, but using it centered on a card in this way makes it look like a bikini bottom. Or something else. I'm censoring my dirty English major mind right now. You're welcome.



WHAT TO DO

Use the rule of thirds, and, when possible, use the shape of the stamp to guide the eye to your focal point. I learned about the rule of thirds from an article on photography years ago. Divide your space into thirds with imaginary lines. The line marking one-third of the space is visually pleasing...your eye wants to go there.

On this card, I stamped the image twice to get the border on the left third of the card. Also, the pointy end (ohmygosh, I must restrain myself!) directs the eye right to the sentiment, which is the focal point of the card and is located on the line of the bottom third of the card (well, if I'd stamped it a smidge higher, it would be where it should be). Using the horizontal and vertical thirds in this case gives a nice balance to the card.



Supplies
stamps: SU Kindred Spirits, Hero Arts
ink: VersaColor
paper: PTI vintage cream
accessories: none

Lines Love Curves

There's a saying in design that lines love curves. This means that if a design is too straight and right-angled, add curves. If it's too curvy, add straight lines. The idea, I think, is to create a bit of tension between the two to add interest to a design.

This lined shadow stamp from Hero Arts is old. Very old. But adding some curvy flowers, bling, and a simple sentiment certainly freshen it up and make it happy.

How-To Tips: I cut this card down to fit the shadow, leaving an even border around it and building from there. The resulting card is 4.25" wide by 3 7/8" tall.

Supplies
stamps: Hero Arts shadow lines, Papertrey Mega Mixed Messages
ink: bashful blue, Palette noir
paper: PTI white, SU brilliant blue
accessories: flower punches, dimensionals, gemstones

Stamping Off the Edge, Part One

While centering images can result in lovely, symmetrical designs that make my AR/OC heart happy, placing things off-center and edgy often makes a more visually interesting card. Such is particularly the case with large images, like the one I'm using today.

WHAT NOT TO DO:

In the first example, the flower is only slightly off the edge. Less than a fifth of the image, in fact, is hanging off the edge: just the edges of two petals. It looks weird and accidental and sort of floaty.



With a roundish image like this one, it's better to have about a quarter to a third of it hanging off the edge.

WHAT TO DO:


See the difference? The bottom card looks settled, with the flower hanging more decisively off the corner, like I meant to put it there. The center of the flower is roughly in the lower-left sweet spot (that magic place where the lines dividing the card into thirds intersect). The sentiment balances it in the upper-right sweet spot and has a bit more room to breathe with the flower situated slightly lower.

As an added bonus, if you mess up as on the first card, you can always trim the card down a bit on the left side and bottom. That way, if you have perfectionist tendencies and are bothered by the slightly off-kilter feel of it (raising hand here!), you can change it, and no one is any wiser.

I'll have several more posts with advice for stamping off the edge, with examples of what to do and what not to do. Hope this helps!

Supplies
stamps: Hero Arts
ink: SU pumpkin pie, close to cocoa
paper: PTI vintage cream
accessories: buttons, DMC floss

One Step Too Far...Not for the Easily Offended

Can you guess what I don't like about this card? Hmmm. Keep in mind I'm a dirty-minded English literature dweeb who sees Christ figures and phallic symbols everywhere. There are, obviously, no Christ figures on this card.

Why, oh why, did I round the corners on the sentiment panel?!?!?

Otherwise, I totally love this card and think it's really very festive and pretty. The little row of gemstones is perfect, don't you think? And embossing snowflakes in white on red sings to my color-loving soul. But I just can't get past the, um, erectile nature of the sentiment panel.

This is, of course, easy to fix in future manifestations of this card, but I wanted to share it with you AS IS so you can see that CAS is about knowing when to STOP messing with a design. Sometimes, it's easy to take it one step too far. Once you round the corners, you can't unround them.

Sheesh, I might as well have used a pear on this card and been done with it!

Supplies
stamps: Snow Swirled
paper: real red, PTI white
ink: SU craft white, classic real red
accessories: white EP, dimensionals, gemstones, the unfortunate corner rounder