Distractions Abound (Let's Try This Again)

Tonight my pal Blogger is being more user-friendly, and I could finally upload the pics from last night. So let's pick up there, shall we?

I was supposed to be working my my City Cards (more on that in a sec), so naturally I was distracted. I was surfing some blogs and I found that JanTink was hosting a challenge for SU Demos over at SCS, but she wanted everyone to be able to play with the technique, so she posted the whole thing on her blog. How nice was that?!

I decided I liked the challenge, so I thunk and I thunk and I came up with this:

Recipe (All SU): Stamps - Bronc Buster, Wow Flowers; Paper - Kiwi Kiss, Tangerine Tango, Perfect Plum, Naturals White, Bella Rose DS paper; Ink - Basic Brown, Perfect Plum, Pale Plum, So Saffron, Going Grey; Other - Lg Oval punch, Choc Taffeta ribbon, Vintage brads.

This was a three-part challenge: Colors, Sketch and Technique, and we could do any or all of them. Being an over-achiever, and short on time, I decided I needed to combine all three challenges into one card. I bent a lot of the rules - I used Basic Brown instead of Basic Black for my image (and ribbon, to coordinate with the ink, of course); I made the right-hand image too big; and my sentiment is slopping over the left edge. BUT, if you look at it as being inspired by the challenge, I think I've succeeded. I like it so much, in fact, and it is so not a "Leslie" card, that I just might use it as one of my workshop cards this weekend.

I uploaded that baby to SCS (Demo side, which is why I posted it here, too), then set to work on what I was supposed to be doing in the first place: my City Cards. Here is a glimpse of my assembly process when I make these cards:

I do one color at a time, starting with the lightest one, and work through the stack of cards until I get to the bottom. Then I clean my Blender Pen, turn the stack over, and start in on the next color. You can see on the left I have done the Sahara Sand, So Saffron and Always Artichoke. On the right you can see I am working on the Bravo Burgundy buildings, and I have that stack on the left to work through. The total stack this time around is 60 cards, which will make 12 packs of 5 when I am done. There are three different city names, so it is a pretty good distribution. And 4 of the 5-packs are already sold! Yay!

One of the issues I have with taking pictures of my cards to post is the detail that shows. Uuuuugly! Some of these things just look better at arm's length, you know? These cards in particular give me heart-burn when I see them up close, since you can see all the Blender Pen lines where I 'painted' the houses. Some people might argue this gives them character, but others might think they look like a kid colored them.

So in my never-ending quest to be a better stamper and colorer, I have pondered caving in to the Copics frenzy. I know, I know! I do not need them...I am not a Graphic Artist that needs 18 different shades of Light Blue. I do not need a Warm Grey and a Cool Grey. I DO NOT! However, the Analyst in me thought it would be a really good controlled test to get some Copics in just the colors I need for these cards, since I always color them the same way (I have yet to get a special color request.) So I am in negotiation with someone in-the-know with regard to Copics and the SU colors, and once we whittle down my list, I'll be getting my pens. I figured it would be a small investment with a guaranteed payout if they work on these cards, and the stamp I use lends itself well to the whole shading thing, so it is a really good test. I think. That's my story, and I'm stickin' to it. I'll report back on how that goes.