The best lay plans of mice and ....me

Preface: The card has been sent and I would have posted the first part earlier but I never found enough time to actually finish the post.  So this will be a two part post - first part catching up, the lessons, the pitfalls and some interesting wicked ideas. I have marked the dates that I wrote and saved the draft so I can myself figure out how best to update and when going forward.  I like sharing the journey of each card.  It really is fun.


February 25th
I've been having a hard time with this design.  It isn't that I don't have an idea.  The ideas I keep coming up with are for ornaments.  And that while it is cool, isn't a very Happy Birthday card.

I love the idea of making this into a Victorian Christmas ornament similar to another design I have done.

But no matter what I did - it still looked like a Christmas Ornament.  Once I finish it I will post to show how cool it is, but it clearly is not a Birthday Card.

February 28th

I have at least picked out the colors and started making the components.  I love this purple, but when I went to do the inset embossing in the component, well no matter how light my sandwich was, the inset impression broke the paper apart.  SIGH.

It is a frustration of mine that I can't seem to get the inset embossing sandwich to work - and with this new Anna Griffith Cuttlebug it seems even pickier.  I ended up having to rescue the mat as it curled itself around the rollers.  I never had that happen before with the previous cuttlebug.

I have kept this and want to see if I can do something to make it a little bit more creepy and use it for a friend who's birthday is Halloween.

March 5th

ARGGGGG

I love how this looks.  I love the purple flowered paper (handmade), love how it is turning out.  My 2mm new bling arrived finally and I love the long lines, makes for a nice border.  Need more colors...and pearls...

So I was about to put the Happy Birthday sentiment on and it just didn't look right.  It felt...like a let down.  So thinking now.  Birthday going inside the card

Yes I put it at an angle.  I love making corners, found this square die that I cut into for pieces after cutting it out.  Made a nice frame.  I have to set this off to the side so I can finish packing the first one and mail it off.

Lessons learned so far:

I need more practice with embossing.  Not all paper can get wet (you're supposed to mist the paper) but some of the paper I use have a sheen. That streaks and looks like well it got wet and dried.

I did manage to get most of the dies re-organized so I found some ones I hadn't used in a while.  I need to make more.  I like them... easy to make center pieces with.

Depending on the card's deadline - if I can't get something the first week, I reach back out for clarity and conversation.  I really don't work well with very limited information unless the person says 'Do anything'.

Letters - need to figure out if I am going to start using my massive font collection and print out the name - on card stock and then cut it out into some nest-abilities shape.

#greetingcards #birthdaycard #kickstarter #make100