There is a fine line in the world of paper crafting. It's a line you get more accustomed to the more time you devote to your crafting. Nonetheless, it's a line that whether you are a beginning crafter or a very experienced one, you deal with on nearly every project. The line? When is too much too much? As crafters and souls obsessed with sparkly things, we tend to love our embellishments--perhaps a bit too much. Knowing when a project is done or needs just "a little something" is in the end a matter of personal taste and artistic vision. I know that I've been guilty of overdoing a design or using one too many embellishments. Sometimes, too much can be a good thing and you'll discover an odd color combination or a surprisingly appealing excess of bling that you might not have otherwise discovered unless you allowed yourself the freedom to let go and experiment. In the end, it is true that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Don't be afraid to try new things, mix different textures and elements, play with odd color combinations--because it your art and your expression. Not everyone has to "get it" every single time. Being creative means coloring outside of the lines now and again.
This particular card project is a fine example of trying to find the point where you tow the line and say, "This is done...or maybe...".
To start the project, I chose the following papers to work with:
The Rich Razzleberry cardstock is my card base and is scored at 4 1/4" to create an A2 card size. The Whisper White cardstock is my stamping and embossing base. I used the Stampin' Up! scalloped edge punch on the top of the cardstock. The two stamps I used (fairy and sentiment) are from Unity Stamp Co. I heat embossed the fairy image with a silver tinsel embossing powder after stamping it in Versamark. The sentiment was heat embossed with a fine black embossing powder.
Next, I used my ATG714 adhesive gun to adhere the decorative SEI cardstock to the front of my folded card base.
Before adhering my embossed mat to the decorative cardstock, I thought it would be fun to use my Ranger ink blending tool and some Tsukineko Dew Drop ink in Lilac Posies to ink the edges of my stamped piece. The replaceable sponge pads on the tool are really wonderful to work with and give you so many different looks and techniques to try.
At this point, I seriously considered stopping. It was a nice card and very colorful. Yet, something still gnawed at me. After looking at it for a while, I decided it needed another pop of "oomph" to really meet the standard of being magical. My eye zoned in on the top flower of the embossed image and decided it needed more interest, bigger presence. The solution was to take three die-cut flower images and layer them with Stampin' dimensionals to create an image that leapt off the card front. A bit of glitter, a Prima pearl in the center, and a chocolate heart stick pin and now the fairy really had something magical to gaze upon.
Finally, because of the deep color of the Rich Razzleberry cardstock, I adhered the piece of Stardream Fuse Mica cardstock to the interior to have a place to write a note or sentiment.
As always, thanks for stopping by....and may your days be filled with magic always!
