COME SLEIGH WITH ME INSPIRATION

While surfing the card gallery at www.scrapbook.com, I find lots of inspiration.

When I find a card layout that jumps out at me and speaks to me, I quickly save the image to one of a few folders I keeps for layout ideas.  I have a layout folder for Christmas, a generic folder, a folder for one of my favorite site within Facebook, Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps, (awesome design work and layouts), and a masculine folder which has layout ideas for card for the men in our lives.

I have the darnedest time coming up with card ideas for dad, uncles, my sweety, etc.  So when I see a card that hits the mark, I save it quickly, into my Masculine Card Layout folder.

So this year I came across a beautiful card at www.scrapbook.com.  I couldn't wait for Christmas to try my hand at it.  I hope you see it as the gorgeous card that I see it as, with lots of Christmas details.

Inspiration Piece

I spent a few hours of applying pencil to paper to create a rough draft of what I see and what I plan to do, and the purchasing of products.  Sometimes better stated, hunting for products, thus the time consumption.

Note, the upper right snowflake alone.  I count at least 6 punches.
     1 White large snowflake
     1 Green large snowflake, different punch than the first snowflake
     1 White smaller snowflake
     1 Lavender small flower punch
     1 Green small flower punch
     1 White tiny flower punch

Search as I might, I could not find a good icicle punch.  I did find one, but it was too pointy and harsh looking.  Also, I'm never too eager to shop online with a company I've never heard of, or if their website looks too simplistic/homemade.

I read somewhere that the Halloween dripping blood punch by Martha Stewart could also be used to make icicles. Of course that means I had to be on the lookout in early October for the "icicle" punch.  After visiting one Michaels in early October I discovered they were sold out.  I went to another Michaels and I got my hands on the last one in stock.

I find it amazing how soon/quickly you have to be to get your hands on seasonal items.  You must begin planning months in advance to get the supplies you need.  Except for Christmas. You can't find Christmas paper in October, but stores are sold out by the beginning of December.

I'll use this opportunity for a soapbox diatribe to prove my point.

With about 3 1/2 weeks until Christmas, I needed more paper with a soft pretty Christmas print.  Nothing heavy in design.  Airy, and subtle. (See the Christmas print in the finished card below.) I don't want anything with dark muted Christmas tones of green and red.

I was shocked that, in my opinion, we're still in the heart of the Christmas crafting season, and I couldn't find any Christmas print paper.  One store only had a tiny rack of prints remaining.  Another store only had one print in stock.

When I explained I was looking for a Christmas print, they proudly proclaimed they had a Christmas light bulb print.  It had a bright background with large green, red, and blue Christmas light bulbs on the bottom of the page. Being that the only designed area was on the bottom of the page, made the design of no value to me, let alone the colors.

What got me though was the fact they felt it was the perfect Christmas paper.  I equate this to wishing to buy  Christmas cards for all your card giving needs.  Would you go to the Hallmark store, or any store, and be excited that they only have one card to offer.  That card would have to satisfy the need for family, friends, co-workers, children and your significant other.

But I digress.  I went to another "super" craft store.  They too had very few 12 x 12 single sheet Christmas design prints to purchase.  However, they had a small variety of  12 x 12 Christmas paper pads.  Fortunately, there were a few prints within one pad that would satisfy what I was looking for.  Sadly, I'm forced to buy a whole pad of paper, at a cost which is much higher than buying 3 or 4 sheets of paper, which for the majority of the pad I'm really not interested in.

The clerk explained, they switched to pads due to a lack of display area of holiday paper.

I caved, and purchased the pad, since it was 50% off.  Still $7+ is more expensive than $3 or $4 would have cost me if I could have purchased the sheets individually.

Seems to me to be a disconnect for the purchasing public.  If you don't purchase or plan out your project in advance and shop at the exact time the stores are stocked with product, their sold out early on.  It seems poor planning on the stores behalf.  You should not have to walk into a store in mid-season and be disappointed that their sold out of holiday punches, and paper products.

This year I didn't have enough time to go online and order the paper I wanted.  In the end I'm still paying more, due to shipping cost.  I'll have enough time between now and next Christmas to get the exact paper I need via online shopping.

Which brings to mind, I recently began keeping a log of all paper I buy.  I note the maker, color and/or the design print name.  This makes re-purchasing easier, especially if I have to go online and order additional product.  It also makes recreating a card easier.  It's hard to recreate something if you can't remember the design paper details.

Anyway, short story made long, below is my interpretation of the inspiration card.

 

A LEARNING ACT

This is a story of how I was really excited about a new stamp I purchased, but the project didn't turn out as good as I had wished it to be.  Feeling challenged I tried a new approach and ended up with a finished product I felt particularly proud of.

I already had a nice Christmas tree stamp I used last year, but it was so convoluted with details within the tree, it was a bit hard to really appreciate the image as a whole.

This year I found a new stamp at Michaels, (www.michaels.com), by Hero Arts called Branch and Flourish.

I'm always drawn to images with flourishs, curly tails and soft swirls.  In this case, the voids in the curls made a perfect home for embellishments, such as jewels and pearls. 

When creating a stamped image on watercolor paper, I use to find a nice matching or complementing colored pen/marker and finish the edges.  This would give a nice finished edge to the image, but it was also very easy to make a mistake.  One colored edge could be too thin or too thick, and in trying to fix the errant edge(s) could lend itself to possible more errors.

Surfing many a scrapbooking web galleries, I discovered a new idea.   Instead of using a pen or marker, use chalk!  Chalk adds a nice softness to the image, and in the process, it's not meant to create perfect matched edging.  

I swirled the cotton ball over the chalk pallet, then transferring the chalk from the cotton ball onto the edges of the stamped image, in a similar swirl fashion.  

I was really impressed with the finished product.

Once done, I created the final product you see below.

The problem:  I wasn't excited over with the final product.  It was too simple.  There was just no punch.

I was deflated.  I felt I could create better than this.

 

So,  back to my portfolio, and web galleries.

From the web galleries I found the following layout idea:

From my portfolio, I re-use this following layout: 

 

I was fortunate and found a nice charcoal glitter paper with teal flecks in it.  Using it as one of three mats is a nice way to add a little sparkle without being overwhelming.  

Years ago I watched an interior decorating show in which the host explained the color black gives foundation and anchors a room. I find that to be a very true statement in any type of decorating. It's amazing how black can make a color "pop", or lend elegance to the design or finish product.  Therefore, the anchor color for this card is black.  I think it really made the teal color pop. 

Below, you can see the interior of both cards.  

I have to say, I'm proud of these two cards. I think I achieved the "punch" I was looking for with these two cards.