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Please tell me I'm not the only one that experiences this. I seldom ever make a card with an exact finished look in mind. I usually start with the focal feature and then just kind of go from there. I gather a bunch of stuff in the right style and just play. I don't even usually know what the finished card size or shape is going to be!! The finished piece if often completely different than what I had in mind at the beginning. I feel a bit like a novelist that says their characters take on a life of their own.
I'm also very slow. I seldom make more than a card a day. Some of that is lack of experience and some is my weird manner of making them. I'm hoping to change this a bit by doing the challenges and regularly choosing a card from my favorites in the gallery to use as a basic Sketch. (Isn't that called a CASE or something?) Anyway, I hope to get some control over my cards, especially when I need to speed things up. However, I'm sure I'll also continue to just let some of them take me where they will. LOL
So, please tell me I am not alone in this affliction!
LOL, I could substitute your name for mine. When my little characters take on a life of their own, I name them!! I have also been known to make a card that starts out life as 5" x 7" and ends up as a very small tag!!!
Your new gallery is fabulous and I love your Cowboy Christmas card, it went straight into My Favourites. I am in awe that you produced it without a stamp aid. You will see a lot of us here raving about our MISTI stamping positioners - you will NEVER have a failed stamped card again, you would seriously love it. Back to your original question.....Miss ExtraHannah you are NOT ALONE.
__________________ Susie
Please don't take your organs to heaven - heaven knows we need them here.
It takes me ages to do a card as well. It can take days of planning as I do each card with the recipient in mind. Then I have to sort through my stash to find the right materials, when I can't find the right thing I have to start over. I'm usually happy with the end result but by the time i've finished I'm usually struggling to get it posted in time.
The method I have been using as of late is when I get new stamps, dies, etc they get used right away. I never know where I will end up. Most of the ideas I think of I never write down and so I forget. I stamp a few images and put them off to the side to dry. I then colorize them. By that time I have an idea and get moving on an image. It doesn't take me too long once I take off.
You are definitely not alone, there are lots if stampers that either don't plan at all and just go with it or if we do have an idea it morphs into something else as we create. Don't fight that, it's called CREATIVITY and it is an awesome feeling once you finish with your card.
It depends, to be honest. Sometimes the card grows as I make it, other times I get n image of what the card will be pop into my head, and I suppose I work to that design. Equally, sometimes I start off to make one thing, and something else turns out in the end. It's all part of the fun.
I don't really think in finished designs, more like oh, I want to color that... so I do.
then if I am in a mood to color I usually do several things and end up with a small stack of colored images and then, I may make one or two of them into cards later
( maybe not that day) but, for me it mostly revolves around colors.
sometimes I get an idea to color a bird based on something I seen online ( kwim?)
that kind of thing.
I also start with a focal image. I look for a stamp that I haven't used for awhile, but it also depends on who will be receiving it. This is what takes me the longest; to decide what to use for the focus point. I love the process of adding things but often times it takes me forever to make the first decision! I guess that's why I don't make as many cards as I'd like to!!
Or maybe it's just another way I can procrastinate? :rolleyes:
__________________ We can't all be stars but we can all twinkle.
I can't envision the final product in my mind. It takes me forever to make something, and it happens more by chance. Because I have no idea what I am making, I just drift and make/accumulate a ton of half done stuff in stages. It eventually gets made into cards, but I would prefer not to have tons of stuff in stages...
For this reason, I started making cards using sketches. I watched a YouTube video of a woman who uses the whole pad of DSP to make cards using sketches from OWH - and it was relaxing to me and she was cranking out cards. Doing this has given me the ability to see finished card designs (for those sketches) in my mind and better narrow down my embellishment choices. Otherwise I end up auditioning everything and get over whelmed by the number of choices - and it takes days to make a card.
I like the creativity of letting it take me where it will. I love playing with all the different mediums. But I also want to learn how to control the design and crank out a nice card in an hour. And the only way I can do that is to learn sketches and color design by following a set pattern. And strangely enough, I find sketches really relaxing.
I'm also very slow. I seldom make more than a card a day. Some of that is lack of experience and some is my weird manner of making them. I'm hoping to change this a bit by doing the challenges and regularly
Do you enjoy the process? I do, it can take me a day to make one card or even longer. If I have the time I will take the time to enjoy the process, letting the creativity flow.
Janet, that sounds a lot like me! I do enjoy doing things as I have been jukie! I think I will continue as I am sometimes, but I've also got a numerous cards I like saved from the gallery and in back issues of Stamper's Samplers. So I will do that as well sometimes and see if I can't be a little quicker and learn some new "go to" sketches. Color combos aren't as challenging for me. You wouldn't know it from my gallery, but I love blues and greens with the occasional pop of purple! ��
Last edited by ExtraHannah; 01-17-2016 at 03:57 PM..
I, too, can relate to your description of the card making process! I never did get any control over that and found that if I tried to speed things along or rein in the meandering, I didn't enjoy it as much. Maybe for you that will add another enjoyable aspect to card making instead ;) .
Some of my favorite cards are the ones where I have an idea, I'm putting all of the elements on the card and Whamo...I blog something or smudge something. In the process of hiding my booboo, I come up with a much better card.
I'm not one to mass produce a card, I get bored too easily. One thing I've found that works for me is to chose my paper first and then color the image(s). If I try it the other way around I spend way too much time trying to find the "right" paper.
Don't get me started on fonts...I can spend a hours trying to find the perfect font for my sentiment! :-)
Hey-that's cool! A lot of people cant do that. They really are sketch dependent. Revel in it. Have a great time! Your work is beautiful. I would not want to see that process get squashed or laid aside.
Yes, it's called CASEing if you riff off someone else's card or duplicate it, and we try to give credit to the original if you post it. (vs CAS-clean and simple which is a style of card making)
Sure-using sketches, challenges, etc may well help you learn to focus tighter. Try it.
Oh, I am so with you on this! Sometimes I gather all the materials I think I will use and by the time that is done, I'm just not sure how to get started.
I do a lot of challenges and sketch challenges are my favorite but I almost never pick out all the elements of my card when I start! I useually start with one thing and just kind of see where it goes
I'm all over the place with where I start and how long it takes to finish. I rarely CASE. I'll find something that gives me inspiration (color, technique, layout, etc.) but my project won't look like what I saw.
As for how long it takes, I'm can be speedy and then other times it takes me forever to pull it all together. I don't worry about how long it takes because I'm having fun.
I belong to a crafting group where we all make the same project. We have one friend who is usually an hour behind the rest of us. For a long time I watched to see why she was "slower" and found it's because she likes to evaluate her options (i.e. she overthinks). This is not a bad trait, but there are times when she could just go with the flow and see where it takes her. I like to have a basic plan but some of my most beautiful creations came from a bit of serendipity.
Extrahannah, this happens to me not only with my card making but my scrapbook layouts as well. When I first started to scrapbook I was told that I needed to sketch my page first. This totally killed it for me. For me, I consider altering my intended design as creativity.
I get an idea that pops in my head or have inspiration from a website or blog and off I go to find the stamp, techniques I want to use, paper... you get the idea! I love it when all of a sudden a new idea pops into my head and away I go with that one.... I guess the bottom line is I pretty much always end up loving what I have created and have had fun doing it! To me, that's the journey of being creative.
There's not a lot of consistency to my creative process - in frequency or actual doing - but it does take me quite awhile to make a card! I've found that if I'm making a card for a challenge and have an idea right away, I enjoy the process and let it take me where it will. If I'm trying to fit a challenge but have no clear idea of anything, it's painful and I have to walk away sometimes. I used to make things just to play, and I need to get back to that - lots more productive and definitely more fun! The finished product looks more like "me", too, as opposed to a sad reproduction of someone else. I'm hoping to have some time freed up in my schedule soon to actually make something, instead of just writing about things on these forums, lol!
The process varies some for me, but mostly I want to try an technique and before I start I think of what I want to do with it color wise and image wise. However, the layout may not come to me at first, or change several times on the way through. Don't get me wrong. It is not always creativity that brings on change, but rather a smear, a mistake or lack of talent that makes a cover up, add on or different direction. That being said, when I see an attractive sketch that catches my eye, I will start with the design of the card. Image is always for most, however, as I have a monthly theme that I use for all my cards.
I do this as well.
The best cards I make are from scraps on my desk, I start with a tag 12 by 6cm
I grab a bit of paper look at the image and cut it to fit onto the tag, according to the interesting bit looking at me.
I love taking brown,or black paper and making a small square and cutting it from corner to corner to make a triangle, and sticking it to a corner,or just adding a small strip diagonally across the tag.
Just keep adding bling and bits and lace till it looks good.
I always place something on see if it looks good then glue it down,before I add the next bit...
people some to love the shabby look I get as my cards sell.
Cards with a Life of their own....
