Mr Cardmaker Averts(?) Disaster

So, as promised, I have a card that probably should have hit the heap.  I started poorly, had a bad initial execution, and many mishaps along the way.  I'm not even sure I shouldn't let this poor thing rest in peace after all of this after all.  BUT!  I promised to show you, and show you I will!

I made this--

OK, so I started this whole sordid affair by making several card bases with these really lovely papers from My Mind's Eye Quite Contrary set.  These are the 12''X12" pages, which have a larger scale and more texture than their 6"x6" pad counterparts.  These were gifted to me a while ago, and I ran across them and felt the need to work with them.

So, my initial idea was to cut a large panel out of the base, and then fill it back in with the leaf idea that you see in the photo.  The leaves were going to span the space, and be nice and lacy, and magically hide the second part of the sentiment, so it would be a surprise when you opened the card. Or some rot like that.

......Yeah.

SO--

I did all of this inside--

THIS part is not so bad. I actually kinda dig it.  The idea here was for the stamped leaves to appear behind the die cut ones on the front with the die cuts on the inside tying it all together, yadda, yadda, yadda. 

The lower sentiments were the big surprise.  They would be hidden from view through the cunning use of ginko leaves! 

SO, I die cut out a nice long rectangle from the front.  Crooked.  Nice. This is probably the REAL first indication to toss the thing.  I made 8 card bases with this paper, however, and I had no more paper.  Time to get creative if I wanted to make a set of these things.
I managed to re cut it and straighten it out well enough.
But, then I realized that the hole was WAY too big; the leaves would not cover the sentiment in the way I had envisioned it.  Even if I did do some serious magic with some leaf die cuts, once you went to write in the card, you would have NO PLACE TO WRITE.  I had ENOUGH of that nonsense when I made THIS CARD!

OK, so this is about the point where I really should've tossed the thing.  Well, the second time I should've tossed it.  I am NOT someone who gives in so easily, however.  I sallied forth!

So, I knew I had to fill in some of that gaping hole I made.  I dug out the first die cut that I did, and cut off the top.  Now, because I had cut it incorrectly the first time, and then recut the hole, the die cut was too small to properly fill the hole.  *SIGH*

But wait!  I can SUSPEND the little bugger in the space!  Yes!  (Right?)

So, I die cut and stamped these pretty ginko leaves from PTI.  Then I painstakingly placed them across the span of the card front, lovingly adhering them to the little panel.  Bleah.  Bor. Ing.

Make a, a.......A what?  OK, a  frame!  Okay, not enough! Now what? Uh...... DOILIES, of course!

Now, the nice thing about the doilies, is that if you attack them with a two-way glue pen, they just about perfectly melt into the paper you're adhering them to.  It's AWESOME, really!
I also attached a BIG piece of doily behind ye olde panel and the space it left around it, so the message that will finally (hopefully) be written inside is well hidden from the outside.  Oh, and what the heck, throw some dang rhinestones on the thing.  Razzle-dazzle, baby!!  Maybe the shine will temporarily BLIND them or something!  yeah, yeah, that's it.....

Well, anyway.  I now have a card.  A. Card.  If you think I was going to go through all of that to make a set of eight of these monsters, you are more cuckoo than I am.  Like I said, this thing may YET hit the heap.

Can you believe that you actually READ all of that?  I LIVED it!  What a nightmare....

I said I would show it to you.  So.  You've seen it.  And that's the story.  You know sometimes you go through all of that crazy nonsense, and it comes out a masterpiece.  And, sometimes, it comes out junk.  The jury's still out on this one.  It happens like that.  When in doubt, try to work it out a little.  If it starts to happen, keep going.  If it doesn't save yourself and TOSS THE DANG THING.
Sometimes, though, it's like a train wreck.  You just can't turn away from it.  Good thing I'm NOT a surgeon, for so many, many reasons.

Thanks for stopping by, and staying with me through this ordeal.  If ever you should get this in your mailbox, think of your poor, crazy friend Mr Cardmaker, and, please, be kind.

All Best!
Richard