Friday Fiasco - The Late Version

Today is my good friend's 50th birthday.  Being a self-proclaimed recluse, only big occasions seem to get me out of my house these days.  You would think that with all of that time on my hands I would have had a card prepared before 6:30 pm the night of her birthday dinner...and you would be oh...so...wrong.

Picture this...me in a complete relaxed state watching videos mulling over what new technique I'm going to try on my friend's birthday card.  Picture me choosing this very cool technique from the uber-talented Britta Swiderski.  Picture me reminding myself that things could get dicey BUT IT WILL BE OKAY.  Then picture me sitting down at my craft table to do said technique and basically just losing my shit.  Why?  Because there's a learning curve and no matter how much I prepare myself mentally, I'm never going to be okay with a piece of paper that looks like this...

This is my very unfortunate first attempt.  I decided to give gelatos a try instead of distress ink to change it up a bit.  Rule #1: It is not the best idea to "change it up a bit" when learning something new.  I was frustrated but I pushed on going back to the original instructions.  I ended up with this...

In my opinion, there are a few things that went wrong here.  My color choices were not strong enough.  I really wanted colors similar to the ones used in my first try but I don't have those colors in distress inks.  My friend loves pink and I'm a teal girl - so I was a little stuck (part of the reason I reached for the gelatos first).  I choose to use a yellow spray mist - which really cancelled out the pink and reds I had added from my distress ink stash (spun sugar and worn lipstick).  I'm still not sure what color spray ink to use on a pink project.  My spray mists are uber-saturated and bright.  I thought about throwing in the towel at this point.  But I moved on...

The paper was originally slated to be part of the background of the card.  I had already chosen to use the SHE was a daughter stamp from Unity Stamp Co.  I decided to shift gears and make it the pattern on the dress.  I wasn't so happy with this choice but I REALLY wanted to try and make it work.  Pretty soon I realized there wasn't enough contrast.

So I got out my trusty gelatos and tried to deepen the contrast and even add a little pink and red to the mix.  I wasn't successful in bringing out the pinks and reds - but there was a little more contrast between layers of the dress.  I was somewhat satisfied.  I then moved on to putting the pieces of the card together.  By this time - I had maybe 15 minutes to get everything done so I had to work fast.

And there it is...  the finished card.  Surprisingly, I am really happy with it.  There isn't a strong resemblance to it's original state.  However, I was able to make it work which is really all that matters.  If I had to do it over again - I would stamp the image and color the dress with gelatos.  Unfortunately that wouldn't have been nearly as fun as sweating it out to the finish line (in this case). There were a number of other different errors - the card was too big and I ended up sticking it down and letting it flow over the edges.  I also made a mistake while writing and ended up having to cover the inner part of the card...

Notice the extra portion of the card in brown on the opposite page.  I could not find any envelopes.  I had to put the card in one of those small brown paper bags you get when you buy something small from your LSS.  I stapled it and stamped a birthday balloon on the front.  Done and done.

Anyhoo,  before I head out for the night, I want to leave you with a few things I learned today.

• Being a beginner sometimes means following directions...EXACTLY.  
• It's okay to accept your beginner status when trying new things even if you've been doing some other version of that hobby/craft/activity for years.
• Sometimes you have to accept the mistakes and move on.  Cutting the front of the card down would have been a much bigger mistake than having a 1/4 inch overflow on two sides.  Weigh your options.
• When things go wrong - reinvent.  I could have totally walked away from my orange background - but I pressed on and I think it worked in my favor.  
• As always...it's okay to mess up.  It's okay to lose it sometimes.  It's okay to just say screw it and throw your experiment in the trash or to push on and see where it goes.  Both options have value.  Only you can decide what choice is right.  In this case, I had no time and I'm really glad.  

So there it is...two fiascos, lots of steps, and one finished card.  I'm totally ready to try the technique again - staying closer to my own chosen color palette and see where it leads.  I will post the results here.  I hope everyone is having a great Friday evening or Saturday (wherever you are in the world).  Until then...