It's Saturday, and you know what that means -- Jen del Muro has a great new Sketch For You To Try! I have to say, I just love this card! Do you ever do that? Make something and think, "Oooh, now THAT is cute, cute, cute!" I love it when that happens, and wish it would happen more often! Let's dig a little deeper and figure out what makes it click, shall we? Kind of our own little CSI (card scene investigation)...
1. It starts with good bone structure -- a strong sketch that provides interest and balance without being too busy.
2. An eye-catching main image -- isn't this Santa adorable?! He's called "Marshmallow Santa" and is by Stampabilities (which is located in good ol' OKC, by the way). Best of all, he was gifted to me by my ELF, who I'm going to out right now as none other than Carolyn King. {{{{Carolyn!}}}} I colored Santa with Copic Sketch and Spica markers. Then, because I wanted to do something with all the white space on his beard, I added a little depth and texture by polka-dotting (that's a technical term) Diamond Stickles. The scalloped layer behind the image is actually just a scrap of Georgia Pacific White colored around the edges with a Copic -- this is my sneaky little trick to having just the right shade of paper even when I don't! A little bling on the corners echoes the sparkly polka dots on the beard.
3. Embellishments and extras that enhance -- this is kind of a fine line, as well as a matter of personal preference. It's easy to overdo the add-ons. I'm not a huge fan of layers and doo-dads just for the sake of layers and doo-dads. Some people can really pull it off, but unless everything is just so, it can look a bit cluttered. I tend towards patterned paper on most of the cards I make. If I'm making something for a particular stamp company that discourages the use of patterned paper, then I'll begrudgingly sacrifice my love of dp (Tracey, if you're looking, this statement is for you... : ) ). But otherwise, it's the first thing I reach for after the image itself. On this card, I used coordinating pieces from Basic Grey's 6" x 6" Figgy Pudding paper pad. Ribbon is next -- it feels a little nakey without ribbon, but sometimes (like the Hula Hoop Bunny from yesterday) I just can't make it work. I always, always try before throwing in the ribbon towel, though.
4. The sentiment is a really big deal to me, too. I'm a sentiment-on-the-front kinda gal. Every once in a while, I'll make a card w/o a sentiment on it, but that's only when I can't find one to fit. Again, there may be limitations imposed by outside forces; if it's a design team assignment, I usually can't mix the products of stamp manufacturers. I'll even computer generate a sentiment if I need to (sacrilege!). And I'm a wee bit of a font bigot. When doing DT stuff, I will occasionally use a sentiment with a font that I don't care for, but there are instances where I just have to draw the line as a matter of personal integrity (i.e. Comic Sans) and in those cases, I will do without the sentiment all together. For this card, though, I think the sentiment font is just perfect for the look and feel I was going for, and the size is just right, too. No surprise that this wonderful little sentiment is by My Favorite Things -- Kim (the MFT Lady) has several awesome sentiment sets that meet my exacting standards. I also love the sentiment stamps by A Muse and River City Rubberworks.
Class dismissed!
And for lecture-free examples using this same sketch, check out the beauties by Susan Liles and Shannan Teubner. Should you be inspired to use this sketch and upload your card at SCS, use SFYTT as one of your keywords so we can be sure to admire it!
Supplies used -- Stamps: Marshmallow Santa by Stampabilities, sentiment from MFT's Tis the Season set; Paper: Kraft, Georgia Pacific White, Figgy Pudding 6" x 6" patterned paper by Basic Grey; Ink: Brilliance Archival Graphite Black; Accessories: Copic Sketch and Spica Markers, 3-D Dots, Nestabilities, Diamond Stickles, cheap-o bling; ribbon.