Friday 31 January 2014

An Inside Story

My mantra for 2013 was 'Make An Effort'.  Now I know lots of people have one word, but really, you know me better than that.  See, digression already.  Anyway, it stood me in good stead, that mantra.  And because 2013 came and went so fast, I haven't quite finished with it.  The mantra.  I'm over 2013, you understand, because I have to be.  Oh my gosh, is there a point here?

This is a decoy photo - a page I did for A CJ..remember those?  It bears NO relation to this post at all.  Bazinga.


When I make cards - for workshops or for my own use, I expend all of my available card size mojo on the card front.  Lets not call it designing, lets just say cutting, colouring and sticking.  Consequently, if you've been to one of my workshops or ever received a hand made card from me, that's what you get.  A decorated card front.  I haven't ever done anything with the inside...the odd text stamp, but no decoration, no inserted leaf, no continuation of paper and design.

Shopkeeper Gal sells a lot of paper inserts for cards.  I see on WOYWW that a lot of you print your own greetings and insert them into your cards.  Occasionally I see really beautifully continued designs on the inside of the cards.  I feel that I may be guilty of neglect.  I may start trying to do something on the insides.  But my counter-ego tells me that it's just another thing to do, another way to over decorate and remove the sense of the greeting.  I suspect that sometimes this is the case - like scrapbook pages that are so technique and product loaded that you have to 'look' for the photo.  Is decorating the inside of a card a distraction, detraction or perfectly lovely?

Watch this space.  I'm gonna Make An Effort. And for once, answer my own question!

28 comments:

Sue - said...

Oh I so agree with you about the overdecorated scrapbook pages. Surely the point of a scrapbook is to preserve memories, both visual and written? As for the inside of cards I sometimes copy the front layers but only so I have somewhere to put the greeting esp. If its coloured card.

Sue said...

I tend to just do the front of cards and then a plain white insert with the verse, which I print off or stamp.

mamapez5 said...

Inserts are a pain. Especially if you have got ahead and made 50 plus Christmas cards with no inserts, but then you feel they need one! I do try to do one as I make a card now, but it is usually a dingbat on one side and just a greeting on the other. I do now use quite a lot of digistamps, and it is very easy to put a tiny version of the same one, uncoloured, on the inside. I also keep a file of standard ones for each size card and each occasion, on the computer, so I can print one off as needed. But it is the front that is important. Kate x

jodpea said...

I only put something on the inside if I have something I want to hide! A mistaken splodge of ink or the back of where I've secured something! Whats ACJ?!

jodpea said...

I only put something on the inside if I have something I want to hide! A mistaken splodge of ink or the back of where I've secured something! Whats ACJ?!

Elizabeth said...

Hi Julia, oh dear, I could be one of the over decorators you're talking about ... but generally it's only to use up the leftovers. I just cut any bits into strips and glue them on the inside and the back. Occasionally, I go mad and repeat some stamping or stick on a die-cut or punch shape - usually because I've made too many anyway. What I'm not keen on are inserts ... they are a bit of a faff to make ... much easier to cut strips of paper :) I do think it is all a matter of preference ... I've always loved any handmade card I've received, with or without a decorated inside. As for scrap pages, it is without doubt the photos that are the important factor, anything else should enhance not detract ... but I do like my pretty papers and a few embellishments :) Hugs, Elizabeth xx

misteejay said...

The inside of my cards are mostly plain - occasionally I will decorate or add an insert but not often...more layers, more postage costs.
On the subject of postage, I think that was one of the contributing factors to us seeing less circle journals doing the rounds - I have read so many horror stories of lovingly crafted items going missing in the post after folk have spent ages on them. With high postage costs it hurts even more when something that can't be replaced goes missing.
Toni xx

Scrapcat 1 said...

I don't normally do inserts as I like to handwrite my message but for very very special cards I use some nice pearl paper to add tot he inside but I still handwrite the message as then it's from me :)

MaggieC (Silvercrafter) said...

I quite agree about over decoration, both on cards and scrapbook pages. The photo should be the hero of the scrapbook, and the stamp or main image should be the hero of any card for me. Don't over egg things. I am guilty of usually doing inserts (I didn't at Christmas, purely down to lack of time). Normally, time permitting, they are printed with a personalised greeting, and where possible some sort of an echo of the main design to tie it together. It is the personalisation of the whole thing for the recipient that is important to me. I am making my own effort so I am off to the gym in a couple of minutes to get fitter. xx Maggie

Carmen said...

I agree with you. Craig wants me to start scrapbboking again but we both agree - the scrapbooking I feel comfortable with is clean lines, maybe a little jotted down bit about what's happening. Emphasis on the photos. Job done - nothing at all like how I I am usually - grungy to the max. Can't see the point with scrapbooking. Cards too - I am very much a basic card maker and I'm accepting that. It's just a vehicle for my message inside. Doesn't mean I don't admire the works of art some people produce on that front - in fact I have framed some I have received :)

505whimsygirl said...

Hi Julia,

Thanks for inserting a photo of your page - I enjoyed seeing it, no matter that it doesn't have anything to do with your post!

Like you, I usually just make card fronts. Honestly, I don't think I've done any real stamping since the last WOYWW ATC swap (which I found a bunch that I made and will turn into cards). I don't decorate the insides at all but usually I'll add a cute little stamp on the envelope. I have some sentiment stamps and will use those on the inside if I don't use them on the front.

I like your phrase for 2013 and can see where it would once again be a motivator for 2014.

Hugs,
Kay

Bleubeard and Elizabeth said...

I was drawn to the post by the photo that had NO relevance whatsoever to your text. I should have known (grin).

I'm not much of a stamper, but thanks to YOU, I am getting better at it. I don't make cards, either, but when I do, I make a very simple front and stamp a sentiment on the inside, since my handwriting has gotten so deplorable. I have NO idea what an insert is, but I probably wouldn't use one even if I knew.

Speaking of no idea, what is a CASE?

Princess Judy Palmer said...

LOL! Decoy photo. Very clever of you. So.... about the inside. I had a goal this year to finish my cards which meant the inside and the backside (putting my name on it in some fashion). By no means did I mean all this fancy work that you and I are seeing on the inside of the cards now. I mean putting in a liner if the card was too dark to write on, maybe a greeting but probably not. I can pass on one tip I've learned about decorating the inside of a card--when you put more "stuff" on the inside the less room there is to write and sometimes that is good, like when you don't know what to say but want the recipient to know you thought of them.

Belinda Basson said...

I have always liked a decorated inside, the kid in me never grew up!

shazsilverwolf said...

I nearly always add inserts, but its usually just typed in Word in a fancy font, then a handwritten greeting. I do usually change the colour of the type to match(ish) the card colours. I've never been organised enough to fancy up the inside too.Hugs, Shaz xx

Helen said...

I never decorate insides of cards, or use inserts, or decorate the envelopes either...(mainly because by the time I've done the card it's late to catch the post, lol!) I don't scrap-book although am about to do a page for a Paperartsy challenge this week (hoping it doesn't become a new addiction...) and it will involve some of your over-decoration, because that's what the challenge is, but it's a one-off like I say so it doesn't count, right?!! Watch this space..

Kirsty.A said...

The only time I do anything inside my cards is when I have one odd embellishment left over from what I was doing. If it matches I prefer to use it inside than put it back in my stash. That's not making much of an effort though

Nan G said...

Wow I guess I'm one of the few that decorates the inside of the card. ;) Nothing too fancy or over-the-top that's for the front. I will stamp the sentiment and then stamp something pertaining to the front; like for Christmas I'll use a pine bough stamp inside on a Xmas tree card or snowflakes, etc. It stays simple but adds a touch of "The maker thought about it", as I used to sell all of the cards I made. I also think it's just makes the card look finished. Good luck answering your own question now that all us have muddy the waters for you. Hugs

Fiona@Staring at the Sea said...

I'm not an inside decorator either, getting the front done is quite enough effort. Not a fan of inserts either. I have one lady in my class, who likes to bring her cards back at a later date, to show me how much better they look with her printed inserts!

Krisha said...

Well, I am part of the blank card insides group. BUT I am going to try and change that this year. If nothing else get my name on the BACK of the card...LOL

I prefer my scrapbook pages a little more on the CAS side, showing off the pictures and jotting down the memories. I thought THAT was what it was all about. I guess the key word here is WAS!

I also don't like "bulky cards" If I am going to put that much 3-D on something it will be a canvas, or a decorative piece. Just saying.........

LOVE THE DECOY! Your so clever!(grin)

April said...

I'm like you. I find it difficult to continue the mojo on into the inside of the card. I think of the inside of the card as your place to write something about why you're sending the card. Although right now I have a card that will have a stamp on the inside of a paint splatter as it coordinates with the front. :-) So I said all that to say - I am of no help to you. LOL April

Brenda B said...

I always stick a bit of plain card on the inside, for no other reason than to balance all the layers on the front so it doesn't fall over! Sometimes I will put a strip of the same paper used on the inside too, or edge the insert with a bit of ink, but I don't go to town. I print out all the ones for the Christmas cards as there just too many to do completely by hand.

Claire Grantham said...

Decoy photo..awesome! I dislike inserts and excessive greetings inside a card. I'm sorry, that's not nice..but its how I feel :) focus on the front and write your OWN words inside. Cx

Mrs.D said...

Hi Julia, Well how I agree with you that decoration can be over done, but I also have had cards where the decoration inside gives such a professional look. The trouble is that so often if I am doing a card for someone it is done in a hurry and if I am just playing I think, I'll finish that later, by which time I am pulling it out of the box for a birthday I have forgotten and still don't have the time to do anymore to it.
Ah life is so busy.
I've have discovered that if I am stamping the front of the card, a simple continuation, maybe just one leaf stamped inside can give it that really special look.
I'll also make an effort for 2014.
Chris

fairy thoughts said...

I'm sure you already know you are not alone..... the front is the place to be with decoration. the inside is for writing.... anything else would just get in the way.
Also it takes me long enough to do the front I'm not decorating inside as well. But I also say never say never ... that's why I am a Libran
janet

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