Do you ever feel like your cards are like a romance novel that was written by one of those authors that cranks out 6 or 7 of them every year? You know the kind of novel I’m talking about. You feel like you’ve read it before, just the names and locations are different? You could have written it yourself because you’ve read five others by the same author and very little really changes. No? Well, I do. At least I feel that way about these cards.
It’s not that I don’t like them. I do. It’s just that they are very similar, very alike one another. It’s easy to tell that they all belong to the same family – the resemblance is uncanny! I liked the layout so I repeated it…over and over and over again. A little different bit of ribbon, red instead of brown, Stickles instead of gemstones, blah blah blah.
This is how the whole thing started. I was doing a demo at Stamper’s Alley last weekend, for Open House. I was demoing the Cuttlebug and Nestabilities and I needed a couple of samples.
Sample 1. The bow and gems in opposite corners was inspired by a card I saw online, probably on someone’s blog. I liked the way this one turned out.
Sample 2. So I made another one, just slightly different. Golden yellow instead of burnt orange and no gemstones. Oh, and different color ribbon – same style, just a different color.
The demo went well and I needed to make some Fall cards to send out since I don’t do Thanksgiving cards. I don’t know why I don’t do Thanksgiving cards. I just prefer plain ‘ol Happy Fall cards. Anyway, I thought of just making some more of these since I already had a lot of the stamped images cut and ready to go but then I decided to try something different.
Oh yeah, this is thinking way outside the box, right?
I liked that one so well….yep…you guessed it. Another one. Very similar but not exactly the same. More like a fraternal twin than an identical twin.
I stamped a Memory Box tree and added some Fall foliage to it. Cut it out with a Nestie, sponged the edges, and colored some grass - to ground the tree. You can’t just have a tree floating in thin air!
Then I glanced over at the shelf where I keep my cards and saw the first two. Hmmmm.
Lather, rinse, repeat. I was on a roll now.
You still with me? Tap, tap, is this thing on??
The last one. Luckily for you I only stamped 4 trees.
I still have all of these stamps laid out and ready to ink up. I may have enough cards to send, since I made some others a few weeks ago. But I need to use these stamps. Need to. Bought them, must use them.
You know what that means. And I know you can hardly wait to see what I come up with next! Tell the truth (but not if it’s gonna hurt my feelings). I have to be honest – any new cards will most likely involve that awesome Basic Grey Indian Summer paper. Maybe that’s why I feel the need to make more cards. It’s not the stamps, it’s that paper. I love it. I love looking at it. The colors are just beautiful. If it was fabric I’d make myself a new purse out of it and carry it all year. Ok, so I’d think about what a great purse it would make and see if I could bribe one of my talented friends to make it for me.
But it’s only paper so I will have to turn it into cards. I will try not to keep you waiting too long.
