Tuesday 14 February 2012

Valentine card


 
Well, I'm still editing my photos, but in the meantime I wanted to take the opportunity to show the valentine's card I got for Michelle Mach's Valentine Challenge.

The challenge was to alter a plain embossed card any way we wanted. Like several of the participants I had no real experience in paper crafts, lacking both the skills and the materials and tool to make any kind of more professional looking card, but it was a challenge and I sometimes find it hard to say no to a challenge. Even if it is in a medium I'm no more than a newbie in.




This is what the card Michelle sent me looked like before I altered it. At first I just thought of it as being in landscape format and this is how I kept looking at it when planning and playing with different ideas. Then one day I turned it 90 degrees and realised it looked better in portrait format.




And this is what the card ended up looking like. I began by colouring the leaf pattern with watercolour pencils in spring green and light brown -- two colours I felt worked well with the cream white paper. I then wanted to add a quote and not having the time or resources to make a fancy stamping or image transfer I had to write it my hand. Lettering isn't my strong side, but what can you do?

The text means "Love [in order] to live. Live [in order] to love." I wanted something love related that was more philosophical than something addressed to a lover. More about love than about valentine.

As the card felt pretty bare, I thought of what material I had that could add to the design without overpowering the simplicity that I liked. My eyes fell on some pink tissue paper that I cut into flowers. Using the dull point of a brush shaft I pushed the flowers into a pin cushion to cup them. The remaing five flowers were shaped the same way, but using a pencil point so they became more ruffled, perfect for the centres.

So all in all not one of my best creations, but there are details I like (such as the flowers) and I probably shouldn't be too hard on myself considering that I'm a newbie in the art of card making after all.

If you want to see what the other participants made with their cards, please check out Michelle's valentine challenge blog post.

5 comments:

  1. Beautiful, what a lovely idea. Happy Valentines Day xxx

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  2. Hi nice card with sweet little roses. As for me, I'm a bit scared of all those interesting materials for card making and scrapbooking that I see in craft shops. I feel overwhelmed by all those beautiful papers etc. I would really like to be able to create cards. I've decided to give silk embroidered and beaded cards a try. And then move further from my comfort zone to paper crafts...Maybe I should ask somebody to "force" me to make paper cards...like you were "forced" by this challenge? Milka

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  3. Happy Valentine's Day aka Friend's Day here in Finland! We send cards to our friends and relatives.The income from card sale usually go to organizations like The Red Cross etc. I think your card is very suitable as a greeting to a dear friend.

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  4. I love those little flowers. Thanks for sharing how you made them! I also liked how you changed the card to be portrait format. Such a small change, but one I would have never thought about. Thanks for joining the challenge!

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  5. Thank you!

    Milka: Yes, challenges are a great way of pushing yourself -- and being pushed -- into trying something new. You should do it!

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