Yay - Submission to CARDS Magazine - Experiment 8

One of the categories for the June 2012 submission call to CARDS was "mini cards".  I figured that might be a good one since I was pressed for time.  After all, the smaller the card, the less "stuff" you need to put on it, right?

As I was falling asleep after making the first card, I had an idea for the second one.  Let me tell you a little story...

My college roommate K was most certainly cooler than I was (still is!).  She let me borrow her clothes, especially when we went out and I needed something edgier to wear.  One of the items I frequently borrowed was a black tank top.  But not just any black tank top - it was styled like a corset, with satin ribbon lacing.  Since it wasn't an *actual* corset, it didn't have those annoying straps for garters and whatnot, and the lacing was in the front rather than the back.

At some point, K realized I was borrowing it for pretty much every outing, and she just gave it to me.  I wore it out.  In fact, I just recently gave it away (finally!).

I wanted to make a card inspired by this corset lacing.  I have a ridiculous amount of ribbon in my supply stash and struggle with how to use more than a few inches at a time as a border or small accent. 

This was an idea I needed to try first, to see if it would really work.  I measured and punched a few paris of holes in scrap cardstock and tried lacing it up with 1/8" ribbon.  It looked pretty cool.  

In a recent Craigslist score of a sticker binder and a bunch of miscellaneous supplies, I found some super-cute Basic Grey patterned paper that had already been matted onto white cardstock.  Two of my favorite color combinations are dark pink and acid green, and brown and acid green.  I found some Stampin' Up cardstock in a delightfully acidic green that looked perfect for the card base.

Since this was a simple card, I needed the circle with the sentiment to stand out.  At first I wanted to stamp and emboss it with the new opaque white ink I bought, but realized quickly that I don't have white embossing powder, and the clear powder didn't make it stand out enough.  (Another thing I'm glad I tested on scrap cardstock first!)

So I settled on letter stickers instead.  But the white chipboard stickers looked a little too plain and had some imperfections on them.  What better way to fix that than with glitter?  Oh, I love me some glitter.  I grabbed my Zig glue pen (OMG love) and my Martha Stewart super fine glitter and got to work.

I put in a silver eyelet to strengthen the hole in the circle and give it a more finished look and tied that piece on with a simple knot.  All in all, it was a pretty quick card to construct, but the trial and error of figuring out the mechanics was what took longer.

Tips and Tricks

• When using embossing powder and a heat gun, you'll want to stop before it's done.  Don't - there's a very definite point when you'll see the powder melt and get shiny.

• For both glittering and embossing, you don't need a fancy tray to collect the excess.  Just use a clean sheet of white printer paper.  Then you can bend it and pour the rest back into the jar.

• You can remove extra bits of embossing powder and unstuck glitter with a small paintbrush.  Be gentle so you don't screw up the wet parts of the design.

• For projects requiring a LOT of ribbon like this, cut twice as much as you think you'll need.  You can always use the scraps later if you cut too much, but if it's too short, it'll just be frustrating. 

I submitted both cards to the magazine online in the wee hours of 12/31.  It was an awesome way to ring in the New Year, especially since the Hubby and BabyT were both asleep well before midnight... 

Thoughts?  Critique?  Should I have put eyelets in the little holes to make it look more finished?  Too plain?  Too busy?