Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Slow & Steady...

I made this card back in the fall, but decided it was worthy enough to bring out of the closet. My usual design process starts with a sketch after being inspired by colors, images, patterns or other things I see around me, but this card came out of nothing. Three of my co-workers decided to do a tag team triathlon, so I wanted to do something special for them. What kind of card do you give for an event like this? "Good luck!" No, that's overused. I have always loved my QK turtle die cut, but until this I had never used it. I really have to try hard to impress the macho men at work with my "nerdy" paper crafts, but this did the trick. (FINALLY!) Here's what I did: I started with a long (legal size) green envelope that I chopped in half to make a library pocket. I then used a 1" circle punch to make a notch in the top. I just so happened to have matching green card stock for my tag, so I cut this to 4"x6" and trimmed notches on the top corners. I usually freehand one side then flip the clipping over to make a matching notch on the opposite side. It makes a perfect tag every time. On the pocket, I used 1.25" strips of scrap patterned paper, and for the tag I used a matching piece trimmed to 1.5"x4" then tacked it down with a couple of black brads. The turtle and bunny are Quickutz die cuts as well as all of the letters. Since periods are too difficult to loose during die cutting, I opt to use a hole punch. The only pieces that I didn't run through my Xyron were the largest 1.75" circle, the red 2.75"x2" mat, and the 2.5"x1.75" piece of creme patterned paper that the word "NOT!" is written on. They were just too big to fit in the hole! Since this piece is very abstract, I just placed the pieces randomly as I went along. I used a blue brad and some funky ribbon for a pull at the top of the tag then finished up the card with my journaling pen by adding lines, dots, and doodles until I was content. And...that's it!

9 comments:

Unknown said...

Im just curious why you have a hard time impressing the macho guys at your work. You are to beautiful for it to be too hard, and your creativity is outstanding. :)

Unknown said...

the little turtle is QK?? OMG...Love it! So cute.
This is adorable and shoulda come out of the closet a long time ago...that sounded bad.

Alex said...

Very cute - love the turtle!!

Corie said...

Love the animals, definately worth taking out of the closet!!!

Jen said...

Really nice, love the colours for your cards n tags!

Michele Kovack said...

I love these! They are both adorable! I would love to see that frog card! Thanks for visiting today...always nice to meet new people!

Anonymous said...

This is so cute!!! Love the cards you've made.

Kristine said...

Oh HOW CUTE!! That is such a clever idea!! :) I also use exclamation marks A LOT!! I just found your blog and I LOVE it!! Going to add you to my blogger buddies :)

Kirsi said...

What a cutie. I just love this.