Sunday 8 February 2009



Tha Friday challenge over at Daring Cardmakers is to make a card in an Oriental style, without resorting to black and red as the colour way. Now, Oriental is waaaaayyy out of my comfort zone. I know as a theme for cards and in rubber stamp sales it must be one of the biggest, but I don't do much of it. I always love what other people do, I'm drawn to images, particularly landscapes, and in my 15 years as a stamper, I've owned quite a lot of unused stamps on an oriental theme! So here I am trying desperately to work, never mind think, outside the box! This card pretty much shows off my entire collection of stamps that could be considered oriental, a fern by Stampendous, a rub-on that's meant to look like a strip from a fortune cookie, and thank goodness, a piece of 12 x 12 'Inspirables' by EK Success. I don't know how oriental it really is, but I loved having to think about it (it took me two days to come up with!) I'm generally over myself now; I know what I'm drawn to in terms of themes and can at last resist buying the stuff! Previously I've felt almost obliged to have a go because it's on trend or because I ought to be able to do it - loads of 'styles' that I just can't do with any enjoyment...then they end up just being derivative and bland. Now brace yourself interweb, I'm going to talk about some really wonderful styles that I can't do. It may well sound as if I don't like these styles/themes, but I assure you that the opposite is true; I love them. It's just taken me forever to know my limitations! There's oriental - too refined on too many levels. Then there's really cute - LOVE IT love all the potential that can be done with it, but always end up sticking a cute image on something really plain to sort of dilute it. How about the shabby chic stuff that Tim Holtz is the master of? I long to be able to do it, but I can't......my stuff ends up looking like I've worked in mutliple shades of weewee. And then there's the whole altered thing...I can't quite get my head around all sorts of aspects of that. But I think I'll tell you about that some other day, the hole I've dug this morning is deep enough for now! Oh and we did crop yesterday and I did do some stuff, but as Ginny is expecting award winning photography, I have to play with my light settings dahling! Yep, looks like I might have to RTFM!

4 comments:

SueH said...

Julie, I know exactly where you’re coming from with all ‘don’t do’s. My list would be much the same as yours, so the dare I set this week was as much a challenge for me as it was for you!

And I must say you’ve done a great job with the dare.
Your card is clean and uncluttered with a sophisticated look.
Simply beautiful!

Thanks for joining in with the DCM’s dare this week.

Sue
x

Ginny said...

i have some great papers that my son got from his japanese buddy thats the extent of my asian supplies..lol

you did a great job on this card :0)

and in answer to your question...I "create" late at night after everyone's in bed or early morning before everyone gets up ;0)

Lythan said...

I think your card pulls off the oriental look - it has calm, simplicity and beauty. Wonderful!

Kathryn Frantz said...

I don’t know if you will ever see this comment since your post is from 2009.. I’m working my way from the beginning of your blog! Anyway, I have two full drawers of Asian stamps! Still! Unused, of course!