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I don't know about any of you, but there is one thing I must always do on my cards - thread buttons. I can't stand Naked Buttons on my cards. I've tried to leave them but those little button holes look so lonely. :lol:
O.k. so does anyone else obsess about stuff on their own cards?
My upline won't let a card go until she's sponged the naked edges It really does look nicer but now, I'm afraid not to sponge for fear people will think I'm a loose woman! :lol:
I have trouble leaving the edges of white or vanilla panel plain --- I feel the need to sponge ink on them, tear the edges, cut with fancy scissors or do SOMETHING to them. They look so unfinished if they are just plunked on the card front without even a fancy corner :lol:
Yep, I hate the naked buttons too. I always put something through them. I also must have layers. In fact, I try to always do one little, special something on each card I do - ribbon, eyelet, sponging, you get the idea. I just did a workshop with this as the theme - "Things You Can Do to Jazz Up Your Plain Card". My customers loved it.
I like embellishments and have to restrain myself as I complete a card....there is always that "urge" there to add more........"too much ain't enough".........but then, I am told that sometimes "less is best".......so I am really trying to take time to think before I add more bows, beads, brads, buttons, yarns, eyelets, jewels.......HELP!!!!!!!!!
I agree, layers! Also there with you on the naked buttons, took me a while to start using them as I didn't want to part with them. I still don't use buttons much for swaps, there isn't enough in the container! I also am a ribboner (is that a word?!), and always seem to find a place for it on my cards.
I don't know about any of you, but there is one thing I must always do on my cards - thread buttons. I can't stand Naked Buttons on my cards. I've tried to leave them but those little button holes look so lonely. :lol:
O.k. so does anyone else obsess about stuff on their own cards?
Oh yes! Totally! me too! I'ts a pet peeve of mine!
I am picky about mats...they have to be either 1/8" or 1/4", though 1/8" are my favorites...I can't stand crooked matting or crooked stamping unless it's supposed to be! (that naked button thing gets me too...a little bit of hemp or our linen thread...just the thing!)
At least you put the buttons on your cards, I can't bear(bare) to part with them yet.
I had this problem too until I discovered the art of "paper buttons and ribbons". Take your 1/16th " circle punch and punch your button holes into a scrap of cardstock. Then take your 1/2" circle punch, turn upside down where you can see what you're punching and punch button with "holes" in the center. The linen thread works nicely in the button holes, without tearing the paper and if you want a "glossy" button, cover finished product with crystal effects. Adds a quick and less bulky touch to a demo card for a workshop. This also helps out those customers getting started with embellishments who don't want to buy every button SU offers!
I use the same concept for demo-ing ribbon cut from cardstock. I always have samples of the real thing, too, for the purists in the group, but found these ideas appeal to the thrifty ones in the bunch. :lol:
I used to sponge a lot, but I recently discovered direct-to-paper. Every card I've made this past few weeks has seemed to lack something until I did a little direct-to-paper. I'm sure next month it'll be a new technique or embellishment. :lol:
It was the same with the air art gun when I first started stamping.
Naked buttons get to me, too! Also, I physically can't make a card without layering something somewhere - I need to do a search in our gallery and see if it can be done!
I just cut cardstock in the desired ribbon width and use with soda can buckles, or crimp the strip of c/s. If you cut your "ribbon" thin enough, you can even tie the ends together. Sometimes use the "grass-looking" stamp with the All the Best stamp set. Use the same color of ink, stamping off once on scratch paper before stamping onto the paper ribbon. This set also comes with the long rectangular block stamp that stamped vertically (to run under a mat) in a line down your cardstock looks surprisingly like a ribbon.
Can you tell, I love giving people ideas in workshops and letting them get the hands-on experience themselves, but it can get expensive for me to provide enough "real" material for everyone to try their own. Hence, the alternatives were created!
I am a big eyelet fan. Most of my cards for swaps, classes and home workshops have eyelets. I just think they add so much to a card. I also really big on layering, it is a must for me!!
I am picky about mats...they have to be either 1/8" or 1/4", though 1/8" are my favorites...
that is totally me, i almost always use 1/8 in. although I sometimes let 1/4in. sneak in.
I also have to have more than one layer, and i don't mind naked buttons, but usually thread something through them. And I am a ribbon geek. Especially gingham!
__________________ I'm a loser ~ 19.2 pounds gone...lots more to go!
Kendra,
After hanging out with you and stamping, I can't have naked buttons anymore. I also find that I have to background stamp everything. I did a quick card this week without a BG and it just felt wrong, yet the card turned out cute. :shock:
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love that paper button idea! gotta give it a try. can you CE an area of cardstock before punching out a few buttons, or does it look better putting the CE on after it is punched out?
__________________ --Sandi desperately trying to eliminate some of the clutter in my house!
Oh, you guys, now I'm going to be scared to use my hoarded buttons! The few I've used...I don't think they had anything through them! Argh!! I'm ashamed....
__________________ Judi 'Stamparooni'
If you can't eat it, drink it, or stamp it
you might as well throw it away!
this is a great thread. love love love the idea for the paper buttons. as for the stray ink mark, i have a couple of teeny tiny stamps (like the 'asterisk' in shapes and shadows) that cover up those marks nicely - but not, i suppose, if you have a bunch of stray ink marks. i have used the asterisk a number of times it just looks creative!!
I think naked buttons are cute! I don't mind them at all.
As for my cards... I just have to watercolor something! Almost everycard I've been doing in the past month has had some kind of watercolor thing going on. Not all, but most.
__________________
-Juliet A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at
kick boxing.
__________________ For You, O Lord, have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling, that i may walk before the Lord in the land of the living.
(Ps 116.8,9)
this is a great thread. love love love the idea for the paper buttons. as for the stray ink mark, i have a couple of teeny tiny stamps (like the 'asterisk' in shapes and shadows) that cover up those marks nicely - but not, i suppose, if you have a bunch of stray ink marks. i have used the asterisk a number of times it just looks creative!!
Hmmm now that is a thought....I will have to see if I can cover some sometime....