February 8, 2017

DOTS AND SQUARES

Today is my husband's birthday.

For his birthday card, I wanted to go all masculine.

I had had the cute set Enjoy the Little Things, now retired, for awhile now, and used it very little. The little designed squares had always intrigued me. I thought that by stamping them in masculine colors, I could make a little mosaic as my background.

So, in Island Indigo, Cajun Craze and Old Olive, I stamped the three designs on Sahara Sand cardstock, then punched them out with a 1" square punch. (In hindsight, I realize that my first mistake was in choosing Sahara Sand for this job.)

Once I had arranged the squares onto a piece of Cajun Craze cardstock, I was not impressed. It was completely dead. Dead, I tell you.

Even adding the Island Indigo Happy Birthday and some happy blue and white baker's twine, it still had no personality whatsoever.

My next step to add some much needed cheer was to add three 1/2" white circles. Yuk-o! So, I punched three little 1/4" Old Olive dots for the centers. Yuk again. So I punched three little Cajun Craze stars. But, since everything was looking fairly regimented, I added the stars offside.

Now, it really looked odd. And everything was glued in place. I didn't know what to do. Should I just junk it and start all over??

After staring at it a bit, and knowing that it obviously needed more white to balance those strange 1/2" circles, I grabbed my white gel pen and added the dots and slashes around the blue perimeter. Now, I was finally getting somewhere.

It needed just a touch more to make the whole thing pop and give it personality.

So I added the white dots between the squares, leaving the outside Cajun Craze and Old Olive dot-less.

There! Now I was happy.


A close-up of all its components


There! Now my masculine card can stand tall and proud.


Happy Birthday, Pat!
May you enjoy many more!


Has that ever happened to you? You know in your brain pretty much what you are going to do with a card design, only to have it turn out not so great, and be tempted to file it in the circular file, and start all over? But then you press on . . . 

Birthday
Smiles.

9 comments:

  1. What a nice card! Hard to find things for guys sometimes, but this hit it right on the money. Pinned :)
    Alexandra
    EyeLoveKnots.blogspot.com

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  2. The dots tied it all together! I know exactly how you feel when you have an idea and as you start making it, it doesn't look how you thought it would. I've almost scrapped a few projects because of that. Perseverance usually wins though. Thank you for sharing at Ravenwould!

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  3. Wow!! the card is so beautiful...

    Please visit: http://from-a-girls-mind.blogspot.com

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  4. That's so cute! I love making customized cards for holidays. I'm sure he loved it! Thanks for linking up. #fridayfrivolity

    Xx,
    Amethyst
    One Sage Mama
    http://www.onesagemama.com

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  5. I like the textures. Thanks for sharing on the Pleasures of the NW's DIY party!

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  6. This is very nice. Most store bought masculine cards always seem to look alike. Yours is very different.

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  7. Happy Birthday to your husband. Making a scrapbooking page have a masculine feel was always something that was difficult. I think you did a great job!

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  8. This card looks wonderful! I bet your husband loves it!

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