My Divine unDetails

The Verve Divas are putting on a Divine Details Project Parade over at the Verve blog and wow are they process and plan oriented. The are on Day 6 as of Thursday so head on over and check out their parade starting on Day 1 with Jen Del Muro.

I've been blogging my cardmaking for about seven months now and I am still without a firm process or plan. Sometimes I just want a card done to get in the mail and everything gets pasted together and then I forget the ribbon embellishment. Ugh! I'm getting better at that and I'm also finding as you will see with most of the Diva's that their process starts with a sketch or layout then their own style and comfort zones kick in.

So as the title of my blog suggests I have unDetails yet to discover. I am still a baby step designer and my style is all over the place as I experience technique's and color combinations as my gallery will testify to that, but I really do need a sketch or layout. What has even helped me more along the way are Amber's {twists} at the Viva La Verve's Challenges on SplitcoastStampers website. So my Divine unDetails to show today is a Viva La Verve July sketch for week 3.

"...when I introduce a color or element I try to repeat it somewhere else on the card at least once..."

My plan for this card was:

1. Get the sketch done with the technique of scored lines.
   
2. Who is it for? My blog hop project (female style) or a family friend (manly style)?
   
3. What colors do I have laying around? MojoMonday contest week scraps.
   
4. What other embellishment or technique do I want to incorporate? Sewing machine stitching (thanks to Amy Sheffer's project parade post ;) )
   

Step by step process: (for those with patience to read on)
The twist for this card was a very easy one and I sat around waiting for some unique way to make score lines work on a card. When it didn't happen I just went to my ruler and drew 45 degree angle lines on the back of my paper and then scored with my bone folder and the cutting indent on my Fiskars paper trimmer. My second goal was to make sure that the lines were visible IRL (in real life) and in photo, so out came ink pad and brayer. Done.

I started to make the background paper with score lines for my Verve Blog Hop, but realized that it wouldn't be a new post if I did it for the Viva La Verve sketch so I changed to a family friend who had surgery. Being a male friend I set aside all the frilly embellishments and concentrated on sleek simple lines for the card. I pulled out some Autumn Leaves stamps that I bought before finding delicious Verve stamps and my newly purchased Anniversary Birds from Verve. I stamped those images on separate paper because I've realized that I tend to redo when I stamp on the intended paper for the card. I decided to make the bird more colorful by using my Prismacolor markers. I used Light Cerulean Blue (PM 48), Blue Slate (PM 145), Light Tan (PM 95) and the Colorless Blender pen. I used three birds to layer (see Jen's Day 1 post on her layering detail).

When I stamped everything and assembled the top two layers separately, I stepped back and looked at what embellishments it needed and thought of what kinds of embellishments I haven't used in a while. One thing I've learned from looking at the Diva's work is that they are cohesive in the design. Everything has a common look or feel to it. For instance Amy Sheffer likes to use designer paper packs because they already work together. Julee Tilman starts to sponge and she uses it sparingly to abundantly beautiful on almost every accent of the card. I've started to keep that in mind and when I introduce a color or element I try to repeat it somewhere else on the card at least once. That is where I duplicated distressed edges stitching and sponging (paper and ribbon). I pushed my design instinct and distressed the button even!

Before I adhere anything (yep, I sometimes forget as forementioned.) I lay it all out just as Jackie Pedro mentions in her post, to make sure it's what I want.

So there's my Divine copy-catting! LOL Not really, I think that everyone pretty much has the same process. They begin with an idea whether its a sketch, stamp image or paper as their inspiration.

I hope you can take the time to post a project in the parade. It is so inspiring to see everyone's style and method of design. Have a great time doing it and then go visit all the Diva's Divine Details to get even more inspired.

Thanks for stopping by my blog.