Stuck, again ... UPDATED!

I almost always get stuck at this point in the card-making process. I see pretty paper, and I see the SU colors in it, and I put them together. Perfect match! Now what?

Actually, this is all SU stuff, so of course it was a perfect match! But I have no idea what to do with it now. I could look at it for a week, but then I thought I'd solicit ideas from all of you! :-)

Please ignore that mangled corner. I tried white rub-ons - failed. I tried folding it up to hid the rub-ons - not too excited about that. I punched a notched corner in the folded part ... See? I need HELP!!! All ideas will be warmly received!

Update: I humbly ask you to a lot of pretending here...pretend there is no extra hole in the top corner...pretend the brads are not retired...and pretend the bottom corner is not still mangled.

Thanks to Paula I got a clue, and I went with her idea! I really like the idea of mixing the patterned papers, and I took her idea of the scallop and substituted two Sale-A-Bration sets in its place. I think when I re-do this I'll use the Teal instead of Turquoise for the scallop.

Thanks for the suggestions! What do you think?

Way late update on my Christmas cards

I couldn't figure out how to edit the original post on this card so I just started a new post.

I appreciate you all so much for your comments on my Christmas card. I was under a huge time crunch to get them done and ended up making 137 Christmas cards in a period of 5 days. Whew!!

So I did try some with a darker blue and it was okay but I really liked the contrast of the Heavenly Blue against the black. On many of the cards I added a red sparkle to the circle snowflake and that looked really nice too. But I didn't have enough red to complete all of them. So the majority of them went out like this. Not my best effort but I finished them in time! Now on to Valentine day cards! But I just have a few of those to make. ; - )

P.S. I started a blog of my own. Please check it out and let me know what you think. http://www.houseostamps.wordpress.com/

Stuck, again - updated (twice)

Here I am again - stuck. This card was inspired by some wallpaper I saw, and I made that the background of the card. I added the twill and top image, but aside from a sentiment - I need input on that one, too! - what does this need?

Update: Here it is with a sentiment:

I liked the suggestion of a ribbon (instead of the twill), but alas, SU does not have a Sage Shadow ribbon, and inking up the white with Sage Shadow came out too dark. Bummer.

I think I will leave it like this for now. Thanks for the feedback!

Update #2: Oooh, Happy Anniversary - I like that! I will post this with a picture of the wallpaper on my blog either tonight or tomorrow night so you can see what sent me down this path. :-)

OMG, I must be tired!

Sorry, forgot to attach my picture! Duh, then I, of course, could not figure out how to edit... here goes:

ETA: Thanks for the suggestions. I will try it without the jumbo eyelet and replace with brads. Should I do ALL the circles in stripes? Fewer circles? Also, I will try the jumbo eyelet on the slit punch sometime to see if it works on the paper. That was a great idea someone had. I think I'll save that for another project though so I can SAVE my jumbo brads instead of using them all up for my SAS! Thanks again!

Jumbo eyelet or what??

Hello ladies! Here is a card I have planned for an upcoming Birthday Bonanza Stamp-a-Stack. I am happy with the overall design, but am unsure of the jumbo eyelet. I wouldn't mind leaving it off since I will use up every one but 2 if I leave it (8 people times 3 cards each). However, I think I would like it better with ribbon knotted in it, but that would probably be too much with the ribbon below which I'm not sure I want to give up. Should I just remove it? Or do you like it better than the ribbon below? I've considered a few brads in a row up there instead... I've posted on SCS and not gotten any feedback whatsoever. I know you gals aren't shy so take it away...........

What does this need? (updated 01/12)

I do not mean to compete with Heather's post, but while she is off pondering whether to keep the paisley or not, I finished assembling this card I made for the SCS Faux Silk challenge, and, well, it's not quite right.

The details: The white piece is the Faux Silk part. The Sage Shadow card base has the Floral Background stamped on it. The flowers were colored with Sage Shadow and Pale Plum markers on the stamp, so they are the same colors as the card stock, but they came out darker - I find the markers usually do. That little green line in the bottom left of the white piece is the end of another flower's stem, just unfortunately located. I stole the punch and ribbon-weave thing from Nicole Heady's card sample.

Any ideas?


Update 01/12: Last night I tried the Basic Gray Taffeta ribbon, then I looked at it. This morning I added the Basic Gray under-layer and I like it better.



Edited to keep from boring you with my indecision, but these are two versions I made on the way to my final one.

Update 01/12 7 pm EST: I am done! I decided more is more so I ended up with this:

Thanks for all the feedback!

Is this layout too busy? (updated 1/13/08)

I am playing with the layout of my card before I stamp images (in the white circle and maybe a sentiment layered in the bottom section). I am horrible at mixing patterns- is this too busy? All of the papers are from the same collection so they are coordinated but I'm just not sure if I am going in the right direction... help













Update: 1/12/08
I listened and you were right- the bandanna panel had to go! Although I loved using a circle for the focal point, a square worked better in the final layout. I'm not sure if the traditional Gibson Girl was the best image choice for such bold design elements but it is done now. If we don't take chances we don't grow as artists.

Thank You

Want to thank you for all your wonderful ideas, I tried distressing the ribbon, but for some reason this Michale's $ ribbon was not being cooperative, the brown ink looked green on the ribbon, so that had to go. I put two large eyelets on the side with a piece of brown ribbon through it. I then replaced the original ribbon with wider brown polka dot ribbon and put a thin piece of rust ribbon on top of it. I used one of the small stamps from Papertrey's word set and stamped on the ribbon. I did not use a sentiment as this is one of the cards that I am sending to my niece and I like to leave it open for her to use as she likes. The obvious birthday cards I will use sentiments on but other than that I don't. Thank you again for all your wonderful suggestions really like how this card turned out, couldn't have done it without ya. I just noticed when I uploaded the card that the button ribbon looks crooked, it isn't, really.

Creative Minds think alike

I really had to laugh when I saw your Criss Cross Card. I had just finished packaging up 16 for a class I am doing.

Here is my version.

Happy 2008

Well I have been busy trying to complete my niece's order for her 2008 cards, have about 30 of them made so I think I will be OK. Her birthday is January 26th, so need to complete them and mail by the 20th. I need help on this card. I cased the idea for the horses from Beate, she is good, but I don't know something just does not seem right to me with this card. Don't know if the ribbon is too bright for the distressed look of the card or if it needs to go or if I need some embellishment. Would appreciate any help, getting ready to scratch it and start over. Thanks for taking the time to comment.

What does this need?

I made this for next weekend's workshops. I like the colors I used - the blue layer draws out the sponged sky, and the Kraft base ties in with the brown hair color. I purposely left the white clothing so it was not too busy. And I wanted to keep it soft because the watercoloring on watercolor paper is a soft look.

I still think it needs something, but I am not sure what. Naturally I thought about ribbon ;-) but where? Brads? Where?

Help!? Thanks!

Update: I added a Basic Gray layer (softer than Black, and I was not sure Choc Chip would work). I decided the shell in Crab & Co was too cartoon-y, so I opted for HPH with ... a bit of ribbon!

Whatdyathink?

Updates 2 & 3: I carefully pried off the glue dot under that clip and it still took a bit of the paper with it. Please ignore. The image on the left is the same as the one above minus the clip. The image on the right has some brads. I think they may still be a bit too heavy, though. Maybe a lighter color brad?

Someone commented on the size of the watercolor paper. I'll play with that next (at the risk of filling up blogger with snapshots.) ;-)

Last update - no pic: I changed out the brass brads for some soft blue ones, and I like the look. Thanks for all your input!

Too plain...

Alright, I'll admit I only had 10 mins to make this card. My Mom gave me very little notice to make this card and her only prerequisties were it has to be purple and the lady who's receiving it likes butterflies. So, here it is... purple & butterfly.

I like it enough to re-make it, but what should I add to 'perk' it up?