Squaring the Circle

Good weather, cricket and a holiday have distracted me from card-making for too long.  With Surrey out of the Twenty20 and the UK summer reverting to the usual cool, damp and dull weather, staying in and crafting became not just a feasible option but also a very attractive one.  Too much time pressure when making cards rarely, if ever, enhances my creativity but a deadline of some sort does help focus my mind.  I didn't have any particular cards in hand for the family and friends with birthdays coming up in the next month.  And, after a hectic week in mid-April, I also haven't done all that well (understatement) in taking part in online crafting challenges.  A wet Sunday afternoon (about which a complaint has been lodged with St Swithin on the grounds that his saint's day at the end of last week had been gloriously sunny, hot and, most importantly, entirely dry - at least in London) offered a good opportunity to address both.

The Docrafts Creativity website has a new paper-crafting challenge each Tuesday, with a Monday evening submission deadline.  I'm impressed by those who are able to get cards in on Wednesday or Thursday but suspect that I'm amongst the majority who submit late on Sunday or during Monday.  This week's challenge was a simple sketch outline involving a square set on a circle.  This is not a natural combination in my card-making as my preference is to keep curves and angles separate.  I had a pink and green colour way in mind - perhaps to balance the greyness outside my window.  A suitably shaped and sized topper in each colour came readily to hand, along with some co-ordinating papers.

Although I am pretty hopeful that the finished card will go down well with the intended recipient, I'm not entirely satisfied with the final card.  I like the combination of paper colours and patterns and think the ribbons work well, although it's a shame that so little of them remains visible.  I had originally intended to avoid using the card-maker's staple of mirror-card.  However, the papers alone looked a bit flat and adding just a little bit of silver card as a matting layer behind the topper and as flower and gem embellishments seemed to lift the design in a pleasing way.  I think the card is a bit cluttered and would probably have benefitted from being a little bigger overall.  The papers seem to dominate and distract from the topper itself; probably something less complex would have worked better.  However, this combination of a circle and square has a potential that I wouldn't have thought of myself.  With a simpler, and completely square, topper - perhaps an initial or a single shape - it would work well and I aim to try a variation along those lines.

I suspect that there is no creative project with which the creator has ever been entirely satisfied.  Looking back over my back catalogue of cards, I can see plenty of positive evolution in my style, designs and skills.  Those who have been at this much longer than I have frequently comment that they are always discovering and learning something new.  That's a big part of the joy of it and I trust it long remains so. Although I suspect (or is that hope?) that cricket and good weather will get in the way of me taking part in the weekly challenge for the next couple of weeks.