Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Snowpersons in July

I felt a momentary impulse toward political correctness when I typed the title to this post and replaced snowmen with snowpersons. Does anyone else in the world think about these sorts of things?

Anyway, today we're looking at two different snowperson cards made with basically the same layout. One works much better than the other, but I'll be darned if I care because this snowperson stamp from Hero Arts is so wonderfully, perfectly adorable that it could be stamped on my forehead and it would make me happy.

First, the card that works. Isn't it cute? The glittery snow is adhered with a sheet of red tape that I cut to fit on the card. I cut the hills freehand with a craft knife. Getting that piece stuck down in the right place first time was tough.



After I got the snow base and the cutout snowmen attached, I stamped the sentiment and it looked HORRIBLE. No worries...there are no mistakes in stamping, only opportunities for embellishment. Hence the popped panel (took four attempts to get that senmtiment stamped nicely) and couple of rhinestones.

Simplicity Tip: You should know that I hate working with loose glitter. The AR/OCD side of my personality gets highly annoyed with glitter that doesn't stay where I want it, and I've experimented (and spent money on) every known adhesive in an ink pad, bottle, pen, roll, etc. The red tape (in sheets or rolls) holds loose glitter better than any other product I've used. Very little rubs off if you smoosh the glitter into it and thump the excess off firmly. But it's hard to punch and a pain to freehand cut (you CAN stamp on the backing and cut out an image and piece the adhesive onto your image, but I'll not be responsible for the foul language you'll mutter as you do so). The glitter on the two hats is attached with a Quickie Glue Pen, which is the second-best adhesive for glitter I've worked with and the only option for putting a bit of bling on only a part of a stamped image.



Now the card that doesn't quite work. It's just not balanced. That star, made of summer sun cardstock, is too, too powerful for the rest of the card, and the snow, which is just a white cs panel punched with SU's scallop border punch, lacks color to balance it. A great idea, I think, but not on this card after I added that yellow star. To balance this card, I really ought to put some yellow rhinestones on the snow scallops, but as anyone who's experienced snow knows, yellow snow is not socially acceptable. Ewwww. Conclusion: I should have left the star off.

Oh, well, it's still a cute card. Aren't those snowpersons just the cutest?

Supplies
cardstock: PTI white, SU summer sun
stamps: Hero Arts
ink: Palette Noir
accessories: Bic Mark-Its, rhinestones, star punch, sheet adhesive, Quickie Glue Pen, dimensionals

9 comments:

  1. Aww I think they are both adorable!! I just LOVE your glittery snow hill on the first one! Its perfect! And the way you have the scalloped border on the second one and the "snowpeople" tucked behind it is so CUTE! Your cutting is perfect on cutting out these little cuties! Great job!

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  2. Jumping for glee.....I have this stamp set! Love it. That top card is definitely fabulous. What a great one layer(ish) card. Now you've got me thinking about white Christmases. And the yellow might be a little bright on the bottom card, but I love the hats all having red on them.

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  3. Both cards are cute, but you are right, that bright yellow star is a bit much fof the little snowpeople.
    I like the glittery snow hill, what a great touch.

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  4. Do you have a little sled stamp? A little red sled cut out and popped up on top of the snow in the bottom left corner would be so cute and would balance out the bright gold star and the red hats. (I thought of this because a wise person once said, "there are no mistakes in stamping, only opportunities for embellishment.")

    Both cards are very cute! I love your glittered snow in the top one.

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  5. Snowmen, snowwomen, snowpeople--whatever you call 'em, I love 'em all!!!

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  6. I like the glitter snow bank, but I know what you mean about working with glitter. I'm the same way. I hate the mess so I don't end up using it at all.

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  7. They are lovely cards, i really like the glitter snow. I've not tried using glitter on a large area, so thanks for the tip :o)

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  8. The blue background confuses the question, but the blue seems more harmonious and the green seems more spunky. They sure are great cards, thanks for sharing!
    Lisa aka tennisrules

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  9. Yup, loving both of these. As for the glitter...I am sure that the red tape works great ... but you HAVE to try Sookwang tape...which is so easy to cut with a hobbie knife (it cuts to top but not the backer) it holds glitter like a charm!! and you can easily punch it!! I bought some at my local craft store but I know that PTI also carries it. And you can buy it in various widths...I think I have the 1 1/2" size which works for many purposes!! I bought it specifically to use with glitter but have found a million other uses for it!!

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Thank you so much for taking time to comment!