Friday, July 02, 2010

Just sayin'...


I suck at card making. I know, we've discussed my aversion to card making in the past or maybe its all been a conversation in my head but I hate making cards. Okay, I like making cards when I go to a class and the pretty card is all planned out for you. But this coming up with something original nonsense is killing me! I thought, 'I'll work fast, not over think and just slap them together. Like I did the recent ATCs I made.'


I like them! They were fast thinkin' art. Nope, can't do it this time. Cards are my nemesis, my Achilles heel...


I can only get so far. I stamped all the backgrounds, glued on pretty stamped images, bits of ribbons and lace. Stamped some more images. Tried coloring with pens and colored pencils. Thinking of adding words maybe... None of them are speaking to me and I don't send out artwork that I don't like. The pieces made are just not meshing with the images I have floating around in my brain. Nope.


Do you find you struggle with a certain type of art? Have any suggestions for my poor cards?


(P.S. This is not a thinly veiled attempt to garner public sympathy and pity thumbs ups on my artwork. It really does suck, in my mind at least! I think I need art therapy or something. :) Maybe I need this book. Or this one. Or maybe this one?! Is shopping considered therapy?!!! Where's my credit card?? )

8 comments:

e.beck.artist said...

i only like making cards when i know their intended destination ... otherwise it is just tiny art that sits on my counter for no reason ... same with atc's ... so yes, the smaller the art, the less i like it ...

Monica K said...

I know you said you didn't want to hear about how good they are but I am just going to say it. They're sooo beautiful! Now that I have that out of the way, I can empathize with you. I do make the occassional card but they are less than inspired and are generally just a challenge to myself to use up scraps. I am also not much of a card-giver either so that doesn't help. Sooooo... have you thought about just making "notecards?" When I don't have anything special in mind or they don't scream a theme, I just make blank notecards. :D Bundle them up with some twine and envelopes and give them as a gift.

Contessa Kris said...

I was trying to send them to some friends and some more to the winners of the book drawings I had this week. So I did have an intended purpose but they're just 'blah'. Flat I think is what bothers me but I'm not one for just sticking a charm or something on there. Maybe some sewn fabric although I should have thought of that before I glued everything down, as it should go underneath! lol Oh well. Thanks for your comments.

E. - I find ATCs much easier to make, don't know why...

Julie Prichard said...

When this happens to me....

I don't think you need a book...I sit and stare at the "thing" and I say to myself- "why does this suck?" Think of specific reasons and attack them one by one. That's me anyway...

I don't think these are a total loss though...you can mail me one. :)

Rhonda Langley said...

I can make cards, scrapbook pages but not canvases! Too intimidating! Well I like your cards-little miniature works of art. However, if it looks flat pop up some pieces with dimensionals, tie a bow or two, or curl the edges of your paper embellishments. Glitter is always a good choice!

Paula Clare said...

Hi Kris!
One thing I do when I come up with backgrounds or creations I can't seem to make "work"...I find a few images that I LOVE (they are usually vintage little kids or dogs) and then print them, cut them out, and use pop dots to make the "creation" sweet. It works EVERY TIME! Really! Try it! You'll like it! Lots of cute vintage images can be found from my blog, Flickr, and my friends in the blog world, Elizabeth of Creative Breathing, or Sandy of 521 LakeStreet! Good luck! Let me know if it works for you!

Shirley Pando said...

I hate card-making, too. And I really hate spending money on a card when I have a plethora of supplies at home...so therein lies the dilemma!

I love your backgrounds...keep it up...we'll have to encourage each other.
:D

Lorraine said...

love your cards.. I too have a problem making cards I think its because most of the ones I see are too pretty pretty whereas like you I like layering lots of images and papers