White Picket Fences

Hi everyone! I have a pair of cards this week. The first one didn't turn out quite like I imagined, and it had one too many "handmade authenticators" aka oopses and messes. 😂I still liked the concept and wanted to salvage it, so I made a second one that turned out exactly like I originally pictured!

I really wanted to show the messy version with all the mistakes, because I like to see tips and tricks for cleaning them up, how to avoid them, etc. I love sharing mistakes in card making because I think someone always learns something (usually me lol! 😫). The idea for this card came from the Simon Says Stamp August card kit stamp set "Mandy's Flowers." I had wedding cards on the mind because I need a few at the moment, and I was trying to figure out the best use for the fence stamp from the August stamp set. The idea of an idyllic "white picket fence" motif came to me, but while I was making it all I could think of was Tom Sawyer. 😂Must not let the recipient know their card is infused with Mark Twain energy! 😜

So here you see the most glaring issue. I burned the paper a little while heat embossing the gold details. It was the last bit I had left to emboss and it had taken forever at that point, and I tell you, my mind totally wandered somewhere else. My eyes were glazed over staring at the paper. Which is not a good thing with a heat tool in your hand! Learn from me! 😂I tried to cover it over with a thick white gel pen, which actually did lighten it to a point! No idea how to recover from that mistake except cover it. 😰

The second little "oops" is pretty well hidden, but my fix changed the look I was going for. I wanted to use the cute line separator from "Mandy's Flowers" between sentiments I picked from Simon Say's Stamp's "Floral Bliss" set. However, for some reason I decided it was better to hand stamp it instead of using my Misti, and of course I messed up the stamping! It was originally black embossed like the sentiments, but I decided to invert the colors and emboss it white on a black strip of card stock to cover the mistake. I do like the way it looks, though! I really couldn't decide if I wanted to fill the space around the sentiments, so since this card was experimental I decided to experiment! I used small images from "Floral Bliss" and heat embossed them in gold. It fills the space well, but again it wasn't really what I envisioned when I set out to make this card. I'm glad I made this version though, because I learned what to do and what not to do when I made version 2.0!

I initially intended the card to be pretty clean and simple, so clean and simple I kept it! Here is my second version of the card. I really wanted the fence and its coloring to take center stage, and I think it stands out well, especially with the added enamel heart stickers from Doodlebug, also part of Simon's August kit! 

Coloring the fence posts was kind of a detailed effort. I used my Shuttle Art alcohol markers in CG 0.5 and CG 1. I don't have a good grey set in Copics because I don't really know where to start. I think I have a T5 that Blick sent me by mistake and let me keep. 😂Any suggestions for a great cool grey series of Copics?

After stamping and coloring the fence, I stamped the sentiments and divider in Versamark black ink and heat embossed them with Ranger clear embossing powder. I added the enamel heart stickers as the last step. This time I used pink instead of white like the last card, and I absolutely love the pop of color it gives.

I was so tempted to add something else to the white space, but I like that the focus is entirely on the fence. I think it gets the theme across a little better. I'm interested to play with large negative space in my future cards!

And that's it for this wonky duo of congratulations cards! Any tips for fixing burns on paper? What are your most common "oopses" or mistakes you make when you craft? How do you fix them? I would love to know!