From Fun to FAB!

What is it about some cards that make you sit up a little straighter in your chair and say, "Wow!"?

Details.

Plain and simple, it's the details.  Not random, added-without-any-thought details. No, my friends. Well thought-out ones!

For the OWH Memorial Day Blog Hop, I decided to do a little tutorial, so stick with me because there are lots of pictures and lots to discuss.  If you started with my blog and want to link back to OWH to get in on all the fun, click here.

Here's my fun card using Sketch #37 found here:

Notice the details already on this card: Lots of mats add a framed effect--in particular the white mat which takes the stark white background of my main image and gives it a "companion."  The paper piercing mirrors the border created to the bottom strip of B&T paper and adds texture to my plain background. I chose the terracotta color as the background because it is the color I had the least of in the B&T. The double ribbon is just a little more interesting than one by itself.  The bottom border of B&T paper has one spot of yellow, so I put it on the outside corner to balance the yellow kangaroo at the top of the vertical strip of B&T paper.

But here are a few other things which might not be so obvious and are easier to see in the photo below.  I used four different colors of Copics on my tree and koala bear; three on the leaves, nose, and ears.  The furry look was created by dotting the koala with a colorless Copic to lift off spots.  I also added sunshine by using two Copic colors around the image, my darker color in the V's then blended out with the lighter one.

Cute, right?  Certainly a fun card and OWH worthy, but lets start adding some more embellishments and see what happens.

Adding those three little buttons filled in some blank space, sure, but what else is it doing?  Do you notice how the card is mostly horizontal in orientation?  By adding a vertical row of buttons I am accenting the vertical strip of paper and making your eye travel across more of the card.  To increase the "length" of the vertical strip, I left off the top border of the mat.  Now lets add one more button.

Why? Because I have now created a triangle of embellishments with the ribbon/bow, vertical buttons, and one accent button.  This triangle makes the eye travel all over the card.

But it still needs some finish work.

 I know one crafter whose pet peeve is "naked" buttons.  This extra step takes time and--in my case--a magnifying glass, but it finishes off the buttons so well, it's worth the effort.

And now, in my best cheezy TV announcer voice...

But wait, there's more!

What does the bigger button do that the little button didn't?  It adds "weight" to the left side of the card.  The bulk of the embellishments were on the right side, and while the little button was cute, this one balances out the two sides of the card.  It also relieves all the sharp edges by breaking them up with a different shape which was highlighted when I placed it outside the frame.  Although my vertical buttons are round, they are in another line.  Because of its more significant size, this larger button makes the smaller ones look more round.  Last, but not least, I angled the ties inside the buttons deliberately, especially the large one.  I didn't want another horizontal or vertical line, so I tilted it 90 degrees.  They might not stay angled that way through the mailing process, but it makes for a better picture.

I challenge you to go back and look at the first picture vs. this one.  Would you agree that the "WOW" factor has increased?

I hope I am not breaking any copyrights, but I wanted to show you where I got this great koala bear, as well as the instructions on coloring it.  As you can see on the cover, there is a "Bonus CD" which includes all the hand-drawn images the authors used to teach coloring with Copics.  I simply popped in the CD, printed the image on white cardstock, and (after testing to be sure the ink wouldn't bleed when I ran my Copic markers over it) followed the instructions (shown below).  To get your own copy, visit your local craft store or go to Amazon.

Fun to FAB! It's all in the right details.

Until next time,
Becca