Hello, Friends!
I hope you had a great weekend and are ready for another new week!
I made today's card based on two different challenges. The first was a color challenge that I loved as soon as I saw it! It is at the Colour Me...! blog that posts color challenges every week.
Isn't that a marvelous color combination? My first thought was to use it to make flowers. That would have worked, but I'm trying to push myself to think out of the box so I kept thinking. Next I thought about using one of the Tim Holtz Stampers Annonymous Bird Crazy stamps with the pink, coral, and purple colors for my bird and the green for grass the bird was standing on. That probably would have been a good choice. However, I had a new Blueprints Die-namics Set from My Favorite Things that I have been wanting to use and so I decided these would also make great colors for a quilt. I'd like a quilt in these colors, although technically, I'd like a quilt in just about any colors!
With my quilt die in mind, I knew the sketch I had seen from Freshly Made Sketches would be perfect for my card.
I had my colors, my sketch, and my focal point picked out. Now I just had to put it together. Easy, peasy, right?
WRONG!!!
Then everything that could go wrong did and everything I tried didn't work. I used the scalloped rectangle from the Blueprints dies for my pink background. I embossed it with little polka dots. It looked good to being with, but it didn't stay that way. I put adhesive on the back of each piece of card stock before I cut the shapes out with my Big Shot. I've done that many times before. They refused to cut all the way through, no matter what I tried! So I tried tracing the lines with an x-acto knife. I'd still be working on the card if I had stuck with that. I tried stamping on the card stock to give each color a design. I didn't like it. When I did finally get a quilt done, the plain quilt on the embossed scallop made the background look to busy and the quilt look to plain. I tried putting my quilt on the card horizontally, which meant I had to change the directions of the hearts. I messed up the heart squares when I tried to remove them. So, I threw everything in the garbage and started over. Unless it could be recycled, that is. I never throw away something that can be recycled.
This time, it worked!!!
I went with the "less is more" theory. No embossing and no scallop piece for my background, just pink card stock cut in a rectangle. I made my quilt, again, by cutting out the card stock without adhesive. This time they cut perfectly. No x-acto knife was necessary which was good because I probably would have lost a finger the way things were going! I cut an extra purple rectangle the size of the quilt and put adhesive on it. Then, I laid down the frame of the quilt and inserted the squares and decorations inside. They stuck perfectly. Now, my card looked a little too plain, so I added a Sizzix frame in the coral color to make the final edge of my quilt. This was just enough decoration! Woo Hoo!
I could have added a plain strip of card stock for the side of the sketch and been done, but again, that would have been a little too plain. So I trimmed off about a half of an inch from the white card stock front of my card. Now, when the card was closed, you could see the back piece. I used the largest Sizzix frame and cut a piece of coral card stock with it. This mimics the same pattern as the rectangle I used on my quilt. I cut it so it had a straight edge, centered it, adhered it to my card stock, and then trimmed off the ends which were too long. I added a piece of thick bakers twine (retired) along the coral card stock to make it look more finished. Then, I punched a hole in the center of the coral piece on the back of the card and another hole straight across from it on the front of my card. I used another piece of thick bakers twine to close the card and tied it in a bow.
Just 250 hours after I started this card,
it was finished.
Okay, it wasn't 250. It was 249 1/2.
Okay, it wasn't 249 1/2 either, but it seemed like it.
This is probably going to be a birthday card for my Aunt for a few reasons.
1. We both love quilts.
2. She appreciates my cards.
3. She saves my card.
Let's face it, if I sent this card to someone who then threw it in the garbage and I found out that they hadn't kept it, I would cry...a lot! A card that seems like it has taken 249 1/2 hours to create, should be appreciated and kept until the end of time.
Some fancy cards come together in a flash and some more simple cards can take forever. My words of wisdom for you- don't give up, eat some chocolate or ice cream or chocolate and ice cream, and then get back to your future masterpiece!
In case you've forgotten what the final card looked like, here it is again.
WRONG!!!
Then everything that could go wrong did and everything I tried didn't work. I used the scalloped rectangle from the Blueprints dies for my pink background. I embossed it with little polka dots. It looked good to being with, but it didn't stay that way. I put adhesive on the back of each piece of card stock before I cut the shapes out with my Big Shot. I've done that many times before. They refused to cut all the way through, no matter what I tried! So I tried tracing the lines with an x-acto knife. I'd still be working on the card if I had stuck with that. I tried stamping on the card stock to give each color a design. I didn't like it. When I did finally get a quilt done, the plain quilt on the embossed scallop made the background look to busy and the quilt look to plain. I tried putting my quilt on the card horizontally, which meant I had to change the directions of the hearts. I messed up the heart squares when I tried to remove them. So, I threw everything in the garbage and started over. Unless it could be recycled, that is. I never throw away something that can be recycled.
This time, it worked!!!
I went with the "less is more" theory. No embossing and no scallop piece for my background, just pink card stock cut in a rectangle. I made my quilt, again, by cutting out the card stock without adhesive. This time they cut perfectly. No x-acto knife was necessary which was good because I probably would have lost a finger the way things were going! I cut an extra purple rectangle the size of the quilt and put adhesive on it. Then, I laid down the frame of the quilt and inserted the squares and decorations inside. They stuck perfectly. Now, my card looked a little too plain, so I added a Sizzix frame in the coral color to make the final edge of my quilt. This was just enough decoration! Woo Hoo!
I could have added a plain strip of card stock for the side of the sketch and been done, but again, that would have been a little too plain. So I trimmed off about a half of an inch from the white card stock front of my card. Now, when the card was closed, you could see the back piece. I used the largest Sizzix frame and cut a piece of coral card stock with it. This mimics the same pattern as the rectangle I used on my quilt. I cut it so it had a straight edge, centered it, adhered it to my card stock, and then trimmed off the ends which were too long. I added a piece of thick bakers twine (retired) along the coral card stock to make it look more finished. Then, I punched a hole in the center of the coral piece on the back of the card and another hole straight across from it on the front of my card. I used another piece of thick bakers twine to close the card and tied it in a bow.
Just 250 hours after I started this card,
it was finished.
Okay, it wasn't 250. It was 249 1/2.
Okay, it wasn't 249 1/2 either, but it seemed like it.
This is probably going to be a birthday card for my Aunt for a few reasons.
1. We both love quilts.
2. She appreciates my cards.
3. She saves my card.
Let's face it, if I sent this card to someone who then threw it in the garbage and I found out that they hadn't kept it, I would cry...a lot! A card that seems like it has taken 249 1/2 hours to create, should be appreciated and kept until the end of time.
Some fancy cards come together in a flash and some more simple cards can take forever. My words of wisdom for you- don't give up, eat some chocolate or ice cream or chocolate and ice cream, and then get back to your future masterpiece!
In case you've forgotten what the final card looked like, here it is again.
Happy Stamping!
I used the follow products to make this card:
Blueprints 20 Die-namics by My Favorite Things
Scallop Rectangle Frame Framelits by Sizzix
Solar White 110 lb Card Stock by Neenah
Pink Pirouette, Calypso Coral, Garden Green and Blackberry Bliss Card Stock by Stampin' Up
2015 SAB Accessory Pack (Blackberry Bliss Thick Baker's Twine) by Stampin' Up
1/8 Inch Circle Hand Punch by Fiskars
Double Sided Tape by Sookwang
4 comments:
Beautiful card Angela! I have made a few cards like that, not like your card here but cards that took 249 1/2 hours to make! And believe me, they went to people who would NOT throw them out! LOL
This is really nice and I am certain it should go to your aunt, for all 3 reasons!
This may have taken a year to create, but it is absolutely gorgeous. The colors and details are beautiful. Thanks for playing along with my sketch at FMS this week!
Fabulous quilt card! So glad you stuck with it because it's a beautiful card! Thanks so much for joining us at Colour Me...! this week.
Well....your card was worth the wait and all your work. I love your gorgeous quilt, so nicely made and it looks amazing in this week's Colour Me colors. Thanks for joining us at Colour Me!
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