Saturday, February 7, 2015

The Shaker Card that Didn't

 
Hello, Friends!
 
I could tell you that every card I create is a masterpiece from the beginning.  I could tell you that I always have magnificient ideas that work like a charm from the second I sit down to make those fabulous cards.  I could tell you that any stamp maker in the country would be lucky to have me use their stamps and products because I am that good all the time.  I could tell you those things.  Unfortunately, I'd be a liar and I hate it when people lie.  Lying is the thing I hate most in the world and that is not an exaggeration or a lie.

I started to make a shaker card tonight.  Technically, I tried to make a lot of cards tonight. 

Card #1
On the first shaker card I tried to make, I realized there was a problem with my layout right away.  I was able to save the card base and started over. 

Card #2
On the second card, I made the base.  I made the top layer.  I put down all of my foam tape.  So far so good.  However, I couldn't get the top and the bottom to line up right with the sequins in it. I tried to take the top off of the bottom.  This did not work and messed up the card.  It wasn't like a tiny mess up.  It was more like the Titanic of card mess ups.  I salvaged the sequins and put the rest into recycling.

Card #3
I decided maybe I should give up on the shaker card idea for tonight if I wanted to get a card on my blog before midnight.  I started making a card I had been thinking about.  I cut out and colored some bunnies, which you will see sooner or later.  They were cute.  I die cut some hearts.  They were also cute.  I had my bunnies hold the hearts.  Cute.  Then what did I do?  Nothing.  The card obviously wasn't finished, but I had no idea what to do next.  I showed the first parts to my Dad.  He liked them.  I said to him,
"Now what should I do?"
He laughed.  Right out loud. 
He gives me card advice, but he's more of a "Do you like this or that?" kind of advice giver.  He's not a "Now, you should do this..." kind of advice giver. 
Card #3 is now on hold while I figure out what to do with the bunnies and the hearts since they didn't look exactly like I thought they were going to look on the card which then stumped my poor, tired, brain. 

Intermission
At this point, I didn't know what to do and declared I was done for the night.  I lost my mojo, as card makers say.  My dad said I had "card block" instead of writers block.  I started putting up my stuff and looked at the base of Card #1.  I realized I could put a rectangle frame around it, put my sequins in, and still make a shaker card.  It would be a much bigger "shaker" than I originally planned, but it could work. 

Card #4
I added a die cut word to the base of the original Card #1 to balance everything out.  Perfect!  I added the rectangle frame with acetate and foam tape over part of it so you could see inside the shaker.  Even more perfect!  I poured in my sequins.  This was going to be good! 
Was.  As in- was going to be good.

Something you may not know about the Midwest right now is that it is very dry here.  We have a lot of static electricity.  More than once I've shocked myself just from walking across the floor.  I've shocked poor Frank the wiener dog.  I know about static electricity but I did not know what it could do to sequins.

When I tried to pour my sequins in, some of them started jumping around like Mexican jumping beans.  The next part happened fast, so I will give you my best recollection.  The sequins all kind of stood up as if  they were ordered to by some invisible sequin leader and then attached themselves to the clear acetate front of my card.  Obviously continuing to follow orders, they, then, hung on for dear life refusing to let go, refusing to shake, as in being part of a working shaker card.  Nope.  They just stayed, as if I had glued each one on to the front of my card.

I now have a shaker card that doesn't shake.  You can't even see the inside of the card which is sweet and designed so the sequins match perfectly, because they are still refusing to move off the window of the card.   

11:03 pm
I am tired.  I fought the static electricity, or invisible sequin leader, and I lost.  I don't have a card for you to wake up to in the morning.  I can't remember how to make that static electricity go away although I'm pretty sure any 2nd grader could tell me.  I asked my Dad how to make static electricity go away and he said,
"I think we need more humidity."
While that is true that we need more humidity in the whole house to make the static electricity go away, I do not think I can just "add humidity" to my card to get the sequins to behave.  I think I could wipe one of those sheets you put in the dryer on the acetate so your clothes don't stick together, but we don't have any of those.  I don't know what else to try tonight and frankly (no reference to Frank the wiener dog whom I care greatly for) I no longer care, at least for now.

Why did I tell you all this?  I could have waited until I solved the problem.  I could have put a cute little shaker card on my blog and only showed you the finished project as if it had all come together perfectly from the start.  I wanted to be honest will all of you, though, and let you know that nobody's cards come together perfectly all the time.  Don't let frustration or thinking that your cards "aren't good enough" stop you from creating.   

Cards are not perfect and they don't have to be.  They just have to be your creation.  Sometimes you make a great shaker card.  Sometimes you make a shaker card that becomes a tribute to static electricity.  Don't stop creating just because your cards don't look like someone else's. 
Don't fool yourself into thinking your cards aren't "good enough" because you're not on a design team for a blog or a company.  Your cards are great because they are YOUR cards. Look at other stampers work and learn from it.  Just don't judge your cards compared to theirs and then decide yours aren't "good enough."

Tomorrow I will resume the card making battle that is going on in my house right now. 
I do declare by nightfall
1.  There will be a cute bunny and heart completed card ready to be posted.
2.  There will be a cute and no longer cantankerous shaker card created where the sequins follow my orders now, instead of their invisible static cling leaders!

 Happy Stamping...tomorrow!

PS  If you know how to make sequin shaker cards behave without making me google it, please feel free to leave a comment with directions and your email address.  Good things will come your way.  I promise! 


1 comment:

Oreety said...

Hahaha, I LOVE this post-- you had me cracking up the entire time!! And as for your experiences, I can most certainly relate and applaud you for sticking to it...I believe after attempt 2, I would have probably yelled some expletives, thrown the card in the trash and gone to bed to read, while plotting my revenge. ;-)

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