Friday, April 29, 2011

JB18: cardstock christmas!

the rather awesome miss jessica of basic jess wrote in to JINGLE BELLES with quite a radical suggestion for this week's prompt: would we be interested in making cards with NO PATTERNED PAPER??! knowing me, you'll have sussed that this is one of those challenges that i dread and love at the same time; dread, because this is REALLY hard for me; and love, because... this is REALLY hard for me, and so i know that even if i don't necessarily like where i end up, the process of trying something difficult will be cool and valuable!

around the same time, whilst looking for something else, i happened to find a file of photos of cards from the glorious caardvarks era, and saw this baby:


it's the very first "cardstock only" card i ever made, as part of a promotion for core'dinations. and you know what? i still like that thing! it's totally stark and minimal, but also kind of graphic and fun. from there it was not much of a leap to think, "if i were making that card *NOW*, what, if anything would i do differently?" and it turned out the answer was...

this:

(cardstock: coredinations; dies & embossing folders: cuttlebug; snowflake stickers & backing sheet (used in top and bottom "snow" panels, respectively): dcwv; glitter letters: american crafts; adhesives: tombow monorunner, 3m foam tape; other: gesso, manual typewriter, sewing machine)



ok, so it's sort of the same card, but it's also totally different! for one thing, in 2008 i didn't have a cuttlebug, and was only on vague nodding terms with my sewing machine. so i made realllllllly minimal triangle trees, and there's not a whole lot of texture going on, either in terms of stitching or embossing. so this time i might've overcompensated just the TEEEEEENIEST bit on both of those points! :) i've still got the torn layers of cardstock, though, and a palette of blue, green, and white... just in different proportions. i even wonkily re-typed the lyrics to "o tannenbaum", in english and in german, on some of my cardstock layers, just because i still find that fun and funky.

all in all i am quite pleased with this experiment. i thank miss jess most sincerely for thinking of it, and coming along as our lovely guest star this week. do pop over to JINGLE BELLES and see her card, and of course miss stef's masterpiece, and perhaps you'll be inspired to make a card yourself, and see where the "pattern-free" muse takes you!

ps: i'm working on a tiny step-by-step tutorial for making the latter day c-bugged trees from today's card; that'll be running tomorrow, so stop on back if you're interested!

15 comments:

  1. manual typewriter? what is that?? lol
    seriously girl they are both awesome but the new one is my fav :)

    will have to think HARD on this challenge as i LOVE my DP :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. hiya

    your work is awesome!

    for your outstanding craftiness you have been given a versatile blogger award.

    xxx clare the crafty cow

    ReplyDelete
  3. This is just amazing Miss Lauren!!! One of your very best ... I LOVE those trees ... can't wait to see how you did this ...

    ReplyDelete
  4. LOVE LOVE LOVE....I have to admit, that the newest challenge is well, challenging...you know me and my patterned papers...you rocked the challenge.

    ReplyDelete
  5. What a fab upgrade on that design. Lovely!

    ReplyDelete
  6. sooooo AMAZING! GENIUS I would say! I never cease to be inspired here!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Holy crud what an upgrade!! I'M IN LOVE!That is such an awesome card. Love the trees, and sewing. Really really cool. Great challenge!! I'm pumped up!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Love the revamp of the Christmas trees - great colours too!
    Sandy

    ReplyDelete
  9. Isn't this fun, cardstock only, hmm... maybe I should do one of these fun challenge for City Crafter too! : )

    ReplyDelete
  10. Wow, girlie!! This is flippin' amaaaaaaaaazing!! Absolutely GOR-JUS!! I love this a squillion times over. The trees, texture, color, sewing...EVERYTHING! ♥

    ReplyDelete
  11. Stark? Nah....
    But then I saw the 2nd one...
    Oh, tannenbaum indeed!
    Lovely and not a bit over-compensated. It's perfect! :) And I adore those trees!!!

    ReplyDelete
  12. AWESOME cards! Samantha :0)

    ReplyDelete
  13. Love those trees. They are awesome! Thank you for the tutorial, too.

    ReplyDelete
  14. i love those trees but don't think I have the patience to do them myself!!! But if i find myself with some patience one day, I'll definitely be giving them a go - the card is stunning! pinning...

    ReplyDelete

the *BEST* part of blogging is the comments, dontcha think? thanks for taking time to leave one! ~♥~