the "B" card & Bite Sized Scrapbooking

If you've been reading my blog you know I've been competing in Gallery Idol 2011. Round 1 cards are up for voting right here, and you can see the card I submitted right here - but today I'd like to share the "B" card; the second choice, the one I chose not to submit. This was actually the first card I made:

here's a detail of the butterfly element: 

materials: patterned papers: Girls Paperie; buttons: Crate; coffee filter: Fancy Pants; sentiment: K & Co.

The round 1 challenge was to make a card with a handmade embellishment. On this card I wove the paper then cut it into the butterfly shape. Trust me when I tell you that butterfly element was positioned on about a dozen other card bases before it landed here and got stuck down.

Why I didn't use this card instead of the first choice? Here are a few of my reasons:
1) after I made it, and agonized over it's position, I realized the butterfly employed the same weaving technique I used on the card that made the top 20 (I didn't want to be the 'one trick pony')
2) my daughter didn't like it (she's only 7 but she's got a really good eye)
3) while I like the simple elements and white space, I thought viewers might think it looked unfinished.

It's so hard to know what to submit for Gallery Idol. In the open call, it's the magazine editors that make the selection of the top 20.  Once you get to the voting part, you've got to appeal to a completely different audience - some of which does not include cardmakers. I went with 'the pretty card' because I thought it would have better 'curb appeal' in the gallery. Not sure I made the right call or even made the right kinds of cards. Just know if I do move forward, I need to step it up!

I was honored to be asked by Kim Byrns to contribute one of my layouts as inspiration for her Bite-sized Scrapbooking system.

Are you familiar with this extremely cool program? You can read all about it right here on her website, but this is how it works: "Bite-sized Scrapbooking is an email-based service that will help you create one layout per week—a nice steady pace of scrapbooking that you can do without stress or burning out." You'll be productive, you will use up your stash and most of all, you will enjoy the process. It's a brilliant concept and Kim's website is loaded with all the details - you can see sample emails and check out the Flickr gallery, too. Thanks so much for inviting me Kim!!

Thanks for stopping by!