Skip to main content

how many tries does it take?

Hi all!  How many tries does it take for you to create something you love?  Can you complete a card or a tag in one sitting or do you change things around often?  Today I wanted to share the process I went through in creating a simple tag.  It was the tag that I made to go along with my crocheted octopus in my previous post.

See the tag behind the octopus?  Looks pretty simple, right?  I didn't even have to color the images.  I just stamped them in colored ink but it took me much longer than I thought it would.

Try #1.  I thought I wanted to use this cardstock that had the small specks of color in it so I stamped my octopus image on it twice.  And it had to be more than once because "octopi" is plural, right?  I couldn't just stamp it once cause it would be kind of grammatically off.  Yeah, I think my mind is a little picky at times.

But then I had a scrap piece of kraft cardstock and I stamped the blue octopus on it and liked it better so I switched to kraft.

Try #2.  So here I stamped it twice but then realized the sentiment wouldn't fit really nicely anywhere.  I thought maybe it might be okay if I just stamped the words on the images but nope, didn't like that look.

Try #3.  I flipped the orientation of the tag and thought I could just partially stamp the octopus images and it would look neat.  And I could live with the sentiment being over the tentacle of the octopus just a bit.  But look at the bottom right corner!  I bent the tag in the corner when I tried taking it out of the die!  Might not be that noticeable but still it kind of bugs me.  And also the "my heart" part of the sentiment is a bit too close to the lower octopus.  So this tag was out too.

Try #4.  Here's the tag I finally was satisfied with!  I stamped pink hearts on it too.

But here was my next change.  I thought I would use the light pink cardstock for the hole protector of the tag but realized it didn't match the colors of the tag as nicely as the darker pink cardstock.  The darker pink matched the stamped hearts so I went with that color.

But where should I attached the hole protector?  Slightly over the tag as in the above photo?  I wouldn't have to punch a hole in the tag.  But is it sturdy enough like that?  Seems like it might be kind of weak.  But it's kind of a neat look and I might make tags like that at a later time.

Finally in the end I went with the hole die cut being flush with the tag.  I had to punch a hole in the tag but that wasn't a problem.  So those are all the steps I took to create a tag that I was happy with.  I can just imagine if I had to color the images!

I wonder if other stampers and crafters can relate to this?  I'd get more things done if I was just happy with my first couple tries.

Thanks so much for stopping by!


Comments

Lynn said…
No, Eva you are not alone in your crazy obsession to get it 'right'. Sometimes I obsess about ribbon color or texture for hours. Other times when I am pressed to complete something I just have to close my mind/eyes, do the best I can, and hope for a better outcome next time. Every little detail and misplaced speck of ink is important when you are a true crafter. "Good, better, best never let it rest until the good is better and the better is best!" is sometimes my haunting mantra but my husband's K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple Sweetheart)pulls me back to a sane life. I appreciate that you care enough to make your craft products is perfect as you can. Keep up the great work!

Popular posts from this blog

Snowman gift card holder

Hi!  I was planning to post this last night but I was just too tired to write or think of complete sentences.  It's been a busy week with the boys on Fall break and still trying to finish up a bunch of crafts.  I have been trying to make some crocheted crafts to put in my Etsy shop and finally I'm done with one.  It's a crocheted snowman that can hold a gift card or anything actually that is small enough to fit in the pouch.  The pattern is designed by ChiWei Ranck of One Dog Woof and can be found HERE . Here's the little snowman with his arms folded over in the front to look like he is hugging the card.  I added this fun card that I stamped.  You can definitely add in a gift card too behind this card. The gift card reaches under his nose. This is how the little opening of the pouch looks.  I hope I can make more of these little guys.  These would be so cute for teachers and I think it would be easy to put a little wire through the hat and then use it as

coffee cup shaped cards

Hi!  I think after this post I may need a little nap!  My right shoulder is actually feeling worn out from all the typing and photo editing I've been doing lately.  And this cooler weather is making me drowsy.  It's getting cold here already! I made a bunch of these coffee shaped cards using a die from Honey Bee Stamps .  It's a cute coffee set but the die is extra long so it would probably help to have a longer platform to diecut.  I just have the standard sized one so I would pass it through once in my Big Shot and then rotate the cardstock and die carefully to cut the other end.  Manageable but the longer platform would be more convenient! I embossed the front of the card with some pretty snowflakes.  I think this is a Sizzix embossing folder.  And then stamped the coffee sleeve with some Lawn Fawn stamps. This is the inside.  The gift card slot does not come with this coffee cup die set.  I cut that opening with one of the dies from MFT's gift card dies.

all occasion tags

Hello!  I have more tags to share today.  I kept these simple too to be used on most any occasion.  They have no sentiments on them. I used MFT's cute Birdie Brown Bitty Bears stamp set.  These were on my wish list for a while and I kept going back and forth about purchasing them especially because I wanted the dies to cut them out too and those were very expensive!  Geez, remember the old days when we used to fussy cut everything out by hand? This is the next 6 tags.  There's also a cute bear with a Santa hat that I didn't include in the photos.  This was a pretty quick project since I kept the bears white!  Not much coloring on these tags but they are still cute and colorful. I thought I was going to be doing more stamping but I've actually gone on to crochet more!  I've made 3 more crochet projects that I'll share soon.  Sometimes I do get the urge to color something but these days it's so much easier to pick up some yarn and my hook and crochet