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I am reading this thread and thinking "been there, done that"! My two repeating mistakes that get to me the most are forgetting the embossing buddy (what is really sad is I have two of them & STILL forget to use them!) and not cleaning up after a stamping session. The next time I am in the mood to stamp, I have to spend time clearing off the table before I can even begin stamping.
My worst consistent mistake is forgetting to change the blade in my Fiskars trimmer so I end up cutting instead of scoring - that is VERY annoying!
The air turns blue in my craft room with the bad language and I always ask "why oh why have I NOT learned that yet"?
FubsyRuth,
Here's what I do; maybe it will help you. I keep my scoring "blade" on all the time, but I keep it at the bottom of the trimmer. (Of course, I have to remove it when I cut 12 x 12 paper, but for me that's not often.) My hands usually "remember" that I cut from the top and score from the bottom.
Whenever I am putting brads or ribbon on a card, I always seem to do it last - after I have already assembled all the layers. Then I need to pull the layers off so that I can tuck the ribbon under or put the brad through without it going all the way to the base of the card. If I could only remember to do it before I assemble the card, I would have a much "flatter" card...
This is mine too. Sticking stuff down, and then trying to unstick and restick. I also assemble crooked, no matter how hard I try to get it straight. I never notice til I take a picture and look at it, then it drives me crazy! I just shove it in the envelope and mail it out anyways. That's my handmade touch.
Over and over, I glue my layers together before I remember that I wanted to add some ribbon around it.
This is one of my most common mistakes also. Another is failure to "quit while I'm ahead". I'll have made "the perfect card", and think, "Let me add this one last thing", or "just a little more of that", and totally ruin the card! Less is more!!
Like a few others, my main mistake is leaving one ink pad open and part of the card ends up in it. If it's not the ink pad, then it's a stamp with rubber side up, not cleaned. I hate hate hate when that happens. And it does happen a lot.
The paper and stamp hiding fairy visits me quite often too. I tend to blame it on the kids, but things have shown up on the weirdest places, like stuck underneath the card front I am working on. :rolleyes:
I looked at some I did in a class and left the square pad to stick the rhinestone on peeking out around the stone. That's in addition to stamping a birds nest upside down.
Oops, just noticed I didn't use the quote I was referring to. It was for Ruby doo who said she sometimes puts her finished card front on backwards so it opens from the wrong side. Sorry about that!
Whenever I am putting brads or ribbon on a card, I always seem to do it last - after I have already assembled all the layers. Then I need to pull the layers off so that I can tuck the ribbon under or put the brad through without it going all the way to the base of the card. If I could only remember to do it before I assemble the card, I would have a much "flatter" card...
This is my biggest mistake too. I can't even remember the number of times I've tried to pull layers apart only to have them rip or crease beyond repair and then I have to redo it all again - even more annoying when it's a stamped/colored layer and I have to redo all my coloring!
I am now slowly learning that everything - and I mean EVERYTHING - has to be set out in the right positions BEFORE I stick anything together, but it's a slow process LOL. I will learn. I will learn. I will learn!
A little extra touch up on something that didn't stamp just right it NEVER matches up and usually draws attention to my mistake.
I also stick layerstogether crookedly or unevenly since I eyeball...
Makes a nice card look sloppy. I also am never satisfied with my work
I could be in a workshop making the exact card as someone else and I will ALWAYS like their's better. I think it's because I DO have a crooked eye.
__________________ Bev
Organized People are just too lazy to hunt for things!!!
In spite of all the proof to the contrary, I keep somehow believing that I'll be able to score a straight line/cut accurately when not working at a stable worktable. I love working on my projects in the living room while watching tv with the hubby and son, but I only have room for a tv table in there. Can't tell you how much time and effort I would save if I just admitted to myself that for scoring and cutting, I need to hoist my bum up off the couch and use the kitchen table.
A little extra touch up on something that didn't stamp just right it NEVER matches up and usually draws attention to my mistake.
I also stick layerstogether crookedly or unevenly since I eyeball...
Makes a nice card look sloppy. I also am never satisfied with my work
I could be in a workshop making the exact card as someone else and I will ALWAYS like their's better. I think it's because I DO have a crooked eye.
I hate it when I have one last touch and then it's the worst idea ever!
One REALLY DUMB thing I do is that I will realize the fold is facing the wrong way and I design the card all upside down or sideways or something. UGH.
I have enjoyed this thread, 'cuz I can SO relate!!
One of my frequent mistakes...punching holes for brads too close to the edge. Then when I spread the little prong thingys, the tips can be seen! UGH! Of course this is done on a layer that I spent a lot of time on...or on the last piece of that DP...or when I have no time to do over...Sigh!
In terms of crooked sentiments and layers...I am doing better but when I goof, I just say it's my "style!"
That's why I have a special pair of "brad" scissors. For cutting the legs off of my brads. Works great!
This is a fun thread. Pretty much been shaking my head saying, "Been there, done that!"
Whenever I am putting brads or ribbon on a card, I always seem to do it last - after I have already assembled all the layers. Then I need to pull the layers off so that I can tuck the ribbon under or put the brad through without it going all the way to the base of the card. If I could only remember to do it before I assemble the card, I would have a much "flatter" card...
The mistake I hate is getting ink on the edge of the stamp and having that "shadow" on the stamped image. Not sure if I am just pressing too hard, overinking, or didn't trim my stamps enough before I had proper scissors to do so. Oh, and also forgetting to close the ink pad and brushing or dropping some part of a card on the pad. I don't have a problem with fingerprints, for some reason.
What about getting your card ALL the way finished, it's absolutely beautiful, and I go to open it to sign it...and realize I have just decorated the card upside down!! So it opens to the left now? I guess I could give those cards to left handed people...
I have done this once or twice. What I've done to "fix" the problem is cut the card front off, and glue it onto a new card, facing the right way. Better not to make the mistake in the first place, though!
My customers know that no matter how much prep work I put in to a workshop...I am always known for forgetting one item needed for the workshop. I even packed up once and headed to a party 45 minutes away without catalogs. UGH!
I am guilty of unsticking layers to add those last few brads! but I think the mistake I make most often is letting my daughter know when I plan on stamping... she's there at the table, ready to use all of my supplies (even though she has her own!) - I spend more time helping her with her projects and then I have no time to finish my own
I'm so relieved reading these - I'd see photos of people's craft room and think everyone was that organized. Right now my table is so loaded up that can't make a space for a card project. Re the ink pad - I'm training myself to lay the cover down with the inside facing up so when I'm through inking, I just put the ink pad face down into the cover. I'm almost afraid to put something away because I'll never be able to remember where I put it so eventually I buy a duplicate.....and then.... of course.....I FIND it! :-)
These postings are the greatest! As a fairly new stamper, I am always feeling like I'm brain dead when I do these things and that I must be the only one who can't get it together. It's great to know that there are other stampers out there who are trying to improve with every project they create!
__________________ My Blog My Gallery Fan Club Member "Do not go where the path may lead-Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." Ralph Waldo Emerson
You ladies make me laugh because I've done each and every one of the above. Although I must admit I have disciplined myself to put everything away after each project. I need that organization in my life.
My biggest "darn" is when I distress my cards and not wipe off the excess on my craft sheet and it gets on the back of my cards. Talk about angry. Now I have 2 craft sheets (but I still forget at times). LOL
I make all these mistakes too.....but one thing I am ALWAYS doing is making the whole front of the card, then gluing it down to the base of the card, then realizing the card opens the wrong side!.....I have glued it to the back instead of the front! For some reason I do this a lot.
It's great to hear I'm not the only one making simple mistakes that mess up complicated cards!
Inky finger prints are a problem for me, but much bettter now that we keep old hand towels hanging on the chairs at our *art table* as we call it. I don't mess up nearly as many cards with inky or gluey fingers anymore, and I think it saves the rest of the house from messy kid fingers, too!
I keep forgetting to use embossing buddy before adhearing my glitter or embossing powder. It seems I always forget and it makes me soooo mad sometimes when I always know what will happen.
Oh, this thread makes me feel so much better, because I do all these. But I think my biggest pet peeve is loosing something I was just working on. I just had it in my hand, set it down and then poof, it's gone! Not on the floor, not on the desk, not on the card, I swear the Paper Fairy comes in takes my stuff. I give up looking for it, and make a another. then some time later, the Paper Fairy brings it back, only she glues it to my sleeve or my leg. I think she really has a sick sense of humor....
I do this ALL THE TIME. sometimes i think im going nuts.:confused: Then i find the darn thing where i was last sitting/standing. (i dont have a craft room, so i do all my stuff at the kitchen table.)
I sometimes do have little fairies who take my stuff. They are 5 and 2 yrs old. ;)
1. I can't do glitter to save my life.
2. I need to remember to keep my hands clean.
3. Perfect card and then stamp the sentiment all crooked.
4. You really do need to use an embossing buddy.
I have trouble with glitter, too, and for that reason don't use it very often. Made Valentine's cards for my grandbabies and since three are girls they HAD to have bling. There is now glitter all over my stamping desk, the floor around it, the sweatshirt I was wearing, my kitchen table (had to take them downstairs for mailing) and even my dearest husband. (I gave him a big hug to celebrate the fact that I actually finished them...on time...and got them mailed). I have always said he has a "sparkling" personality! LOL!!!
My other constant is getting ink on my fingers, which gets onto my clothes, and then onto the project. Oh, and I make such a huge mess to stamp one little card. My DH goes in there to turn off the light if I haven't and comes out shaking his head. "I thought you got that room all cleaned up?" "I DID, but I had to make a card again!" More head shaking! LOL
It seems I just can't refrain from 'rocking' my stamp to obtain a cleaner image. Will I ever learn? :rolleyes: RE: Inkpads. After a near miss w/a black ink pad & my beige carpet (yes, I work in the dining room & stuff is spread out all over the table), I automatically put a rubber band on all ink pads. Oh yes, double-sided tape is also a nemesis. We learn & create from our errors -- don't we?
It seems I just can't refrain from 'rocking' my stamp to obtain a cleaner image. Will I ever learn? :rolleyes: RE: Inkpads. After a near miss w/a black ink pad & my beige carpet (yes, I work in the dining room & stuff is spread out all over the table), I automatically put a rubber band on all ink pads. Oh yes, double-sided tape is also a nemesis. We learn & create from our errors -- don't we?
To err is human.
Last edited by kidkat; 02-11-2009 at 08:19 AM..
Reason: delete second message
Oh, this thread makes me feel so much better, because I do all these. But I think my biggest pet peeve is loosing something I was just working on. I just had it in my hand, set it down and then poof, it's gone! Not on the floor, not on the desk, not on the card, I swear the Paper Fairy comes in takes my stuff. I give up looking for it, and make a another. then some time later, the Paper Fairy brings it back, only she glues it to my sleeve or my leg. I think she really has a sick sense of humor....
I had to really laugh out loud on this one... it drives me bananas, and
of course I'm guilty of alll the others (crooked applications, in a hurry, un-organized, etc.)... but this one is my NEMESIS.
__________________ ~~@Marcia Luisa@~~ Nothing splendid has ever been achieved except by those who dared believe that something inside them was superior to circumstance. -Bruce Barton
Boy do I relate with everyone. I thought i was the only one with inked fingers, open stamp pads and a messy stampin area. Now if I could only find the card I just made!
Oh, this thread makes me feel so much better, because I do all these. But I think my biggest pet peeve is loosing something I was just working on. I just had it in my hand, set it down and then poof, it's gone! Not on the floor, not on the desk, not on the card, I swear the Paper Fairy comes in takes my stuff. I give up looking for it, and make a another. then some time later, the Paper Fairy brings it back, only she glues it to my sleeve or my leg. I think she really has a sick sense of humor....
LOL - I'm forever getting my pieces of a project stuck under my cutter which I move off to the side and NEVER think of looking under it when I lose something!! I can relate to all these comments. I often stand my finished card up to admire it only to have it fall over on an open stamp pad..Grrr.!!!
Do you know how many time I have bought the same thing twice because when I bought it the first time, it didn't get put away in the right place. (I really have no room) and forget about it and reorder it. I hate it. I end up using them for door prizes but they are expensive door prizes. I have got to learn how to organize in a better way in the small space I have and know what I have without pulling everything out. Any suggestions?
This is an awesome thread! I can relate to almost ALL of them. Appreciate the lessons learned tips, too. One of my frustrating mistakes is, after making sure everything is stamped correctly; embellishments are in place; attached layers are mounted on the card just right......Then, I go to open the card only to find out I mounted it upside-down! My customers get quite a kick out of this when I do it in front of them. I just tell them it's a left handed card. :rolleyes:
__________________ Debbie Flattum
"The real secret of happiness is not what you give or receive; it's what you share."
I cut my CS in half with my fiskars orange cutting blade, the immediately put the non-cut (so therefore straight) side on the other side of the trimmer to use my scoring blade. I even fold with the valley side of the score out. But still when I fold, the edges don't all line up. WHY? WHY? WHY? Then I end up having to trim them otherwise they would drive me nuts. Its not really a "mistake" its more like I haven't read the right thread on SCS to tell me what I'm doing wrong so I can correct it. So, I keep reading SCS. At least that's my story and I'm sticking to it
me too
Man...ol' man....
