everyday cards

DESIGN DISSECTION #2

Originally, I intended this design to be a single layer. But, after creating the background, I banked left . . . slightly . . . LOL!

Read on, for the design breakdown . . .

DESIGN DISSECTION #2 • CLICK ON THE PIC TO ENBIGGAN

FURTHER NOTATIONS:

  • A 9-patch grid (indicated in aqua) helps to divide the space visually on your canvas and to guide you in placing “visual weight”. Notice how the initial pattern/design of strawberries is contained within a vertical column, down the center third, from top to bottom; this will later affect the rest of the design*.

  • Initially, I wasn’t going to pop up anything but the gold foiled sentiment and gold embossed tag line. However, they were getting lost against the strawberries in the background. To resolve that issue, I decided to add a circle die cut from vellum card stock; vellum acts as a diffuser, softening whatever is behind it. I didn’t want to soften the entire card front, I just needed more contrast in that particular area to help that sentiment stand out more.

  • On a vertical layout, it also helps to *position your sentiment, or your focal image towards the upper third or lower third, as opposed to dead center. Otherwise, it feels like the card is visually cut in half.

  • To give it even more visual oomph, I decided to pop up a trio of die cut strawberries and have them “hug” the sentiment. Odd numbers are (generally speaking) more visually pleasing to the eye, so I typically start with 3, making sure their placement balances the design so the eye doesn’t get “stuck” on one spot and has that nice triangular flow (those golden arrows).

  • I always consider metallics as part of the color scheme on a project; gold and copper can be used to warm up a card while silver tends to give off a cooler vibe.

By the way, it’s totally OK for strawberry stems to be a beautiful shade of red, instead of green; the color police are not gonna’ bust ya’. 😉

The end.

Hope the rest of your week is great!

DESIGN DISSECTION #1

In the past, I’ve posted pics of my card designs on my Instagram that included some notations and folks seemed to appreciate seeing why I did what I did, or why it works—I don’t know why I’ve never thought to share something like that here, so today, I am!

Design Dissection #1

In addition to the above notations, I’m hoping you can also see the “visual flow” of this design, highlighted with the soft pink arrows. This is a triangular path that leads the eye around the design. Even if there’s technically nothing in that upper right corner, the direction of the flower naturally draws the eye towards that area. The eye then flows down towards the left where the twine is tied into a bow. The line of that twine running across the bottom then leads the eye to the right, and “into” the card.

Side note: I usually make side-folding cards because I had so many folks who have taken my live classes tell me they preferred them over top-folding cards—side-folding cards easily remain upright when displayed. I honestly hadn’t thought much about that until they pointed it out to me! LOL!

So, what do you think? Is this helpful to you?

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3 SIMPLE BOTANICAL CARDS - FLORA & FAUNA 3RD BIRTHDAY

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My friends over at Flora & Fauna are celebrating 3 years!

They have a big sale going on to celebrate—20% off Mar 19-23, with code: birthday3

These three cards feature images from their most recent release. If you’re like me and adore hand-drawn, whimsical imagery, their stamps are so SO fun to work with!

Feat. Flora & Fauna Butterfly Dreams

Feat. Flora & Fauna Butterfly Dreams

I love how the butterfly white embossed on black POPS against that colorful flower. I used Fresh Inks in Peach, Tomato Red, Celery and Basil for this one.

Feat. Flora & Fauna Tropical Leaves | Everyday Word Party

Feat. Flora & Fauna Tropical Leaves | Everyday Word Party

Just watercolored (with Kuretake Gansai Tambi) some patches of green in various hues and then gold embossed this gorgeous leafy stem onto vellum; it’s secured to the card front with glue dots—the line details really help conceal those glue dots nicely!

Feat. Flora & Fauna Tropical Leaves | Word Party 3

Feat. Flora & Fauna Tropical Leaves | Word Party 3

OK . . . my name is liar—I actually had FOUR cards, but I forgot to grab the fourth one to shoot. I’ll shoot and share it another day—not sure why I forgot it, but hey, it’s crazy times right now, right?! Anyway, I took part of my third card and used it on this one above. I’ll give you a hint: I used a particular EH die that made pulling this off super easy . . .


Hope you’re staying healthy during this time, and maybe getting an opportunity to craft and make cards!

Thanks for stopping by!

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