Extreme Card Makeover

So I made a card that I didn't like this week. I know, I know. That opener does not really inspire one to read on, does it? I have this rule with books... when I flip a book open to the first page I read the first line and decide whether it sounds good or not. Probably only *thismuch* better than judging it by its cover, but still. One line can tell you a lot about the way someone writes, right? I think it's ingrained in me from all the speech classes I took in college. Anyhow, that's all to say, don't worry, it gets better. I had this vision in my mind of how it was going to look and, in my mind, I swear, it was super cute. I was making thank you cards and, of course, I like them to be small (3.5" x 5"). Smaller thank you cards = less room on the inside you have to fill up with words. Because I sorta don't like having a big card and then having to use big handwriting to make it look full. Anyhow, in my mind, this new super cute card was inspired by this thank you card that I made lots of after Zeke was born: I loved this one... loved all the colors together and how the thick/thin stripes on the ribbon echoed the thick/thin lines on the circles. I was going to do the same size, same layout, with the same simple stamping directly on the card and ribbon tied at the top. Easy. Done. Check. And here it is:

So I set it to the side of my table and moved on to the next card. Except it kept staring at me. I tried to resist. I am not a super quick card maker, friends. I can get sucked into a card for far, far too long, and I realize this, so I really tried to just cut it off. But I couldn't. Because I didn't really love it. And don't you just hate making things that you don't really love? Or at least really like? That is so frustrating to me... bordering on maddening.

So then I set out to fix it. I was trying to keep it super, super simple with as few inks as possible and I decided that that is what did me in. It was missing the fun contrast of the first card. To be honest, the flower images are actually 3 flowers on one block, and I tried stamp them in more than one color, but I didn't like the result; that's how they ended up only being orange. I love the funky line art flowers and it seemed to me that the card was too boring for them... they needed some punch.

To fix everything up, I switched the white card to Leaf Green. I figured then I could still use just one ink on the flowers but starting with the green would automatically make it punchy to begin with. I also thought the sentiment was a bit boring, so I repeated it in a few more colors and layered it just for fun.

Ah, sweet relief. I love this one. Especially love the green flowers on the green card and the orange ribbon over the green. So, there it is... my little episode of Extreme Card Makeover. I am always fascinated by the cards I see on other people's blogs. I love looking at the things people come up with and thinking, whoa, that totally never would have occured to me to do that! And I wonder, how in the world did that come to them? Did they have a vision of it in their mind and then fulfill that vision? Did they start with one idea and end up with something totally different? And honestly, I don't know why, but I always tend to think that people just whipped up their masterpieces in like 6.5 minutes with zero problems and hardly a mess at their work table. Do you think that, too? It's not that people write about them that way; not at all. I guess I just give people the benefit of the doubt and just assume that they are quicker and probably get it right the first time. As you can tell, I tend to start with a fixer-upper! Later, friends. {Much Appreciated} Clear Stamps - Urban Geo (KI Memories) Rubber stamp - Much Appreciated (Stampin' Up) CS - 3/5" x 5" card from card/envie set (SU) Dye ink - Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery, Apricot Appeal, Pumpkin Pie, Not Quite Navy (SU) Ribbon - May Arts

{Thank You rough draft} Rubber Stamps - Spring Solitude (Stampin' Up) Dye Ink - Summer Sunrise, Raspberry Fizz (Papertrey Ink) Cardstock - White (PTI) Ribbon - Raspberry Fizz (PTI)

{Thank You Thank You} Rubber Stamps - Spring Solitude (Stampin' Up) Dye Ink - Leaf Green, Summer Sunrise, Raspberry Fizz (Papertrey Ink) Cardstock - Leaf Green, White (PTI) Ribbon - Summer Sunrise (PTI)