Monday, August 20, 2012

I Heart Bling

Dot Spot is such a fun Papertrey set, and I love using it to play around with different color schemes and a simple, perfect layout.

Citrus colors are warm and happy.


Blues and green are cooler and harmonious.

For those of you who have wondered what "visual triangle" means, I refer you to the bling on these cards. The triangle lends unity to the design, which is further enhanced by overlapping the sentiment, rather than placing it off by itself. All the elements work together to create a strong focal point.

And there's bling.

Bling. It makes me happy.

Seriously!

My primary source for bling is Michael's. The Reflections line has a variety of colors in packets that contain three sizes: tiny, medium, and large. You may also purchase packets containing extra large and jumbo rhinestones, but they are generally too bumpy for me. I usually run out of the tiny ones first, but today's cards allowed me to use up some of the large ones.

The packets have individual dots of adhesive under each rhinestone rather than a line of adhesive that required cutting with scissors or a craft knife. I still use my craft knife to place bling...it works so nicely. Just be careful not to puncture yourself.

Safety first!

And by the way, if you need a color of bling that you can't find in stores, just buy clear bling and use a Copic, Sharpie, or Bic marker to color it. Use a darker shade than you want because the bling will come out lighter than the ink.

You're welcome!

And I've now used my daily allotment of egregious exclamation points. Please go forth and make it a bling-y day!

Supplies
stamps: Papertrey Dot Spot, Signature Greetings
ink: Memento Bahama blue, pear tart, sky blue, tangelo, cantaloupe, black
paper: PTI white
accessories: rhinestones, Bic marker (for the Bahama blue rhinestone)

11 comments:

  1. Great cards! I totally get the visual bling triangles and overlapping sentiments. I love it when I understand your design lessons. I always buy clear bling and color them with markers. I don't remember where I learned that - maybe from you earlier :)

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  2. Thank you Susan for your post today. I always look forward to reading what you write. Especially today. Won't bore you with the details but you provided the perfect pick-me-up. Again.
    Thanks for making me smile!

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  3. Susan, these are so lovely! And they completely mess up my resolve not to get Dot Spots. These cards are lovely! So well-balanced and perfect in every way. Love 'em!

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  4. That you can make a card, just simple and so elegant!!! Gorgeous. Hugs, Ankie

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  5. That first card really did make me smile and think happy thoughts. I love those vibrant colors. I, too, enjoy your design lessons. I'm often aware of the concepts, but don't always apply them. Heck, it's been so long since I've made time to do any card making that I get my creative juices vicariously through you, which means I'm always doing things correctly. ;-) No exclamation marks from me today, but it was hard. I am often guilty of overusing them. It must drive an English major to distraction.... (I so wanted to put one there.)

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  6. I love that although the cards are CAS they are olorful and eye catching, I am hooked on Michael's Dollar bins for bling. Sometimes thay have words spelled out in bling & I buy them and cut them apart as needed. I either use individual dots (can be a pain to cut) or the letters to spell out words on cards or scrapbooking lo's. Thanks for the inspiration. No exclamation points from me yet -- too early.

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  7. Perfect design work. Lovely cards. I love bling as well. Hero Arts has some good varieties too.

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  8. Nice cards! The bling is perfectly placed. I use the tip of my SU piercing tool to place my rhinestones. :)

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  9. I hope you don't mind but I had to pin this on my crafty things for inspiration board. These are just lovely!

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Thank you so much for taking time to comment!