Serendipity

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Serendipity. It's been voted as one of the 10 hardest English words to translate. Simply put it means Happy Accident.
Some would say there's no such thing as accidents, happy or other wise. Some would say accidents are opportunities to see things a different way, to create change, to learn. I'd like to say I fall into the latter category and I try to most of the time, but when I'm stamping, boy it's hard to not just say I'm going to use this piece of paper for scrap! We laughingly joke that it's ok if you make a mistake, "Just flip it over and start again on the other side!".
I really got to test that theory this weekend at stamp-camp. I got there a few minutes late and missed the instructions on 4 out of 5 cards, but they looked pretty self explanatory so I just jumped in with my stamping buddy and team-mate April by my side. We are two Scaredy-Cats just learning as we go and having a Blast! (Well most of the time at least) Well the first card I get the greeting done and then ask "BTW- What's the Stamp-a-ma-jig out for?" Wouldn't you know, it was for the greeting? Couldn't believe it! You know me and my fear of non-perfect stamping and my love of Stamp-a-ma-jigs for that very reason. Well let me just tell you that I bravely (well I must confess my hand was a little shaky) stamped the 2nd card (we were doing 2 of each sample) without the Stamp-a-ma-jig and they both looked great! (And I didn't even have to flip the card over and stamp on the other side.) Serendipity. Next card we were supposed to spritz with the markers and the spritzing tool, on the outside. (Now, I don't even usually like to use that spritzer because with a lot of the colors I think it makes that paper look splotchy and moldy, so generally I stay away from it). What do I do?You guessed it. I spritzed the inside.Guess what? It ended up looking ok. Luckily, I used the spritzer so sparingly it just added background instead of mold and it made my card different from everyone else's. LOL.Serendipity. Card #3- I stamped the greeting on the inside where the card opens up top to bottom instead of right to left. This of course meant I had to change the layout on the front of the card. Once again it resulted in a card that was the same but my own. Serendipity Woo-Hoo! I was on a roll. Card # 4 came and I found out that you can't stamp your greeting after you put glitter on your card, if the greeting crosses the glitter. Ok so Not Serendipity, but definitely an opportunity to learn. And, yes I did flip the paper over. Card # 5 went just as planned, well just as Robin had planned for it to go. All in all 10 really nice cards and while I was there, I thought about this blog and knew the card I was going to post with it.

WOW- long lead up to today's card but life is about the journey right, and this blog is about having fun with stamping and crafting and learning to try new things.

For those of you that saw yesterday's post, it didn't start out with the sponged sky background or the Big Top Birthday balloons for that matter. I actually had the balloons from the original Holiday Ornament Punch Blog in muted pastels and thought I would have them floating in a soft scene with a sky and maybe some trees...sounds nice right? I had seen a tutorial on Frenchiestamps.com, Stamp and Scrap with Frenchie. You should check her out! She has some great cards and Amazing tutorial videos.So, after seeing one of her videos, I made this card front for my balloons to fly in.
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I used a base of River Rock and then a layer of Very Vanilla. I sponged River Rock along the bottom of the card for the ground layer. Then I took Garden Green and sponged it with the River Rock to create the trees layer. The sky I sponged with Soft Sky and Brilliant Blue. Do you like it? I thought it turned out so pretty! Are you wondering where the Serendipity comes in? Well I put the balloons on it and the dimensions were totally wrong. UGH!!!! They were too big! The perspective was all wrong! Now what was I going to do with the pretty card I just made? Well, I decided it was pretty enough to stand on it's own, but I would have never tried to do that background on it's own for a card front. That's Serendipity! I stamped it with the Perfect Words set, that's another must have for sure. I blocked part of the sentiment with a Post-It note so I only got the word Amazing on the front.I'm sure it will fit the person I give the card to perfectly.

 I stamped the inside with the rest of the sentiment and you have a card that started life with balloons, that probably would have been a birthday card that now is good for anytime I want to let someone know just how much they mean to me.

I hope it makes you want to get out your sponges and try something new and just remember, you can always turn the paper over if you need to, or use it for background or scrap (but only as a last resort because I'm sure it will be Amazing!). Just give yourself the chance to play and experiment and see what Serendipitous event might happen. You might just have your own "Happy Accident".

As always I hope you'll let me know what you think. It's great when I get to hear from you! Also, if you liked today's card, please feel free to +1 or Pin it. I've added the buttons to my side-bar for your convenience. Friends and Followers are also welcome. :)

Feel free to show me what you come up with too. Come back and see me later this week.

Be Safe,
Shan







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