we're still rockin' stephanie's gorgeous sketch at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ let's just look at that thing again to refresh our memories:
the day before i sat down to make my card i saw this amazing layout by marcy penner, and immediately thought that i could make it into a great version of our sketch; assuming i rotated the sketch 90 degrees counter-clockwise. i was proven correct, but not before i first made a card that really just DOES NOT WORK. liiiiiiiiike... at all. in the interests of full disclosure, i feel i need to show it to you, if only so you'll be impressed when i reveal version two, the one i *do* like. but first, the "misfire":
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| (vintage: santa scanned, flipper, made smaller, and printed on matte cardstock + buttons from my mom's sewing room; patterned paper: october afternoon, basic grey, and scraps of studio calico, dcwv, echo park, etc; snowflake punches: martha stewart; stickers: creative imaginations, making memories, fancy pants, dcwv; twine: doodlebug; ink: colorbox; adhesives: staples brand gluetape runner, 3m foam tape, sewing machine) |
yeah. it's got all the good stuff from the original layout, it follows the sketch quite faithfully, and it has the awesome vintage santa that i scanned from one of my beloved vintage holiday books so that i could re-size it. i'm not sure *WHY* everything doesn't mesh. i think it has to do with contrast? there's not enough color differential between the "clothesline" elements, but too much with the red background, maybe? whatever. i just know i really don't care for it. so contrary to my usual modus operandi, i decided to have another go. this one worked out quite a bit better, imo:
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| (vintage: santa scanned, made smaller, and printed on matte cardstock; patterned paper: my mind's eye, studio calico, and scraps of dcwv, my mind's eye, love elsie, basic grey, etc; snowflake stickers: martha stewart; rub-ons creative imaginations + tpc; gems: recollections; ink: colorbox; adhesives: staples brand gluetape runner, 3m foam tape, sewing machine) |
phew. that's better! it's got a lot of the same ingredients, but i've paired down more, and scaled back to a smaller size, and somehow it just came together. ok, granted, i had to put the santa on the wrong side, because i forgot to flip the image before printing. (duh!) i'm really pleased i let myself make the second card. so what will i do with the first one? i'll still send it to somebody! i mean, heck, it's a handmade holiday card, and that's NEVER a bad thing for anyone to find in their mailbox, is it? even the "ugly ducklings" find a happy home somewhere, and i trust this one will, too.
a place there are NO ugly ducklings whatsoever is over at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ where both stephanie's card and our readers' gallery are well worth a few moments of your time. meet you over there, k, darlings?!
seriously love them both! happy friday!
ReplyDeleteAre you kidding me......BOTH of these are FABULOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wow! Such talent in those hands of yours!!! <3!
ReplyDeleteok, i agree with sandi - they are both fabulous! i understand what you're saying, though - sometimes our lovingly made work is not well-loved (or even liked) by the maker. you're also totally right that all handmade card find a happy home somewhere ♥
ReplyDeleteYou are correct ... contrast is the issue ... the banner blends too much into the sheet music rather than all of it's wonderful-ness standing out against a darker background ... although that's a very critical eye ... it's still a fabulous design ... love them both.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Stephanie. I think that the vivid red in the background may be too overpowering for the soft blues and greens of the banners. Maybe you could simply add a few red rhinestones or even some darker blue ones to add a little more focus to the soft banners. But then again, I'm sure that the recipient of your card will simply love it as is. I sure hope I can find the time to play along...
ReplyDeleteI think the first one would have worked if Santa's finger had been pointing to a really big font word in a bright font maybe red or even yellow that said something cute like... ??? I don't know what, but then the border would have just disappeared being it didn't have much contrast like you said. I do however like how you changed it up. Very cute. Great contrast, great design!
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