Don't make this mistake

Have you ever done this? Managed to stamp the edge of your stamp onto your finished card?

It is very frustrating, and there were two things I could have done to avoid the mistake in the first place, and one thing I could have done to fix it once I made the mistake.

I am always happy to share my mistakes so others can learn from them, so here are your possible solutions.

Don't stick your card together until all of your pieces are ready.

There are a couple of reasons for this first tip. In this case, if I hadn't already stuck the DSP (designer series paper) to the back of the white strip before I stamped the greeting then I could have flipped the paper over because paper is double sided. If you came to my workshops you would hear me say this a lot.

The other reason for not sticking your card together until you have all your pieces stamped, cut out and otherwise ready is you may decide you prefer a slightly different lay out. If you haven't stuck anything down then, once you have prepared everything and it is ready to be stuck down you can put it where you want it and see what the final lay out looks like. You can decide if you like it and if not, you can fiddle with it.

You aren't squashing a bug.

For some reason everybody, myself included, has a nasty tendency to push far too hard on their stamps. Ink is made to come off on paper, or anything really, ever accidentally brushed your finger against an open stamp pad? The ink comes off the pad onto your finger pretty easily. We don't need to press hard and yet we all do.

You aren't squashing a bug, don't push hard, don't rock the image from side to side, this just creates a mess. Press in a firm but not 'bug squashing' fashion, with even pressure, don't rock the stamp, and count to three.

Pretend you meant it

This means different things at different times, this time I covered the image with a balloon (like that was the plan all along) and then stamped the greeting onto a further scrap of white card stock and stuck that over the top.

I could have equally covered the whole greeting and mistake with some washi tape or a piece of Emerald Envy card stock before covering it with a further greeting.

Lastly, no one looks at your card as closely as you do

If I wasn't preparing a blog on this point I would have left the card as is. No one looks at a physical card as closely as you do.

Maybe if you take a picture to share online people will be more critical because that is the nature of a 2D medium and online pictures, but if you are physically giving the card to someone don't expect perfection. They don't. The point of a hand made card is that you made it, they will see that it is man made not machine made and will generally be impressed with your crafty skills.

Anyone who does criticise you for that little smudge of ink, well, can I just advise you not to listen to that person's opinion generally. Gifts and cards aren't meant to be met with critical analysis, they are meant to be gifts.

Balloon Bouquet Punch

Do you like this card? (mistakes aside) I have had a lot of fun today playing with my Balloon Bouquet Punch and some ideas I CASE'd from Pinterest. Here are some more of my projects if you are looking for inspiration for your balloon punch.