Hot Mess Revival by Mercy Sauer

Hello Ai Folks, Mercy here another week, this time with a hot mess in my hands. So, buckle up and join me for the ride! 

My initial goal for this week was to make a one layer card using the https://www.artimpressions.com/shop/easter-chicks-set-5401/. I tried a chic with the hat without the dies and I loved it. I thought it would be a nice challenge to create a full scene by masking and coloring only, no die cutting. 

My journey began by using a border mask and stamping two Chics on the panel and masking paper. At this point, my crafty path seemed just peachy! 

 

I fussy cut the chic masks and applied them onto the panel. Proceeded to stamp and mask the basket and eggs. Then I used a stencil to ink the hill 

 

Went on to ink the sky using a stencil, followed by stamping the hats. Here’s my first mistake!!! I should have stamped the hats, masked and then ink the sky. The hats were blue! I "reversed" my mistake by rubbing off the ink from the hats and colored with Copics. 

 At this point I removed the masks and realized I made MORE mistakes...Second mistake, I didn’t cut the basket mask fully...No problem, I used a small brush to color in the green and blue areas.

 

Mistake three, I positioned the eggs in the wrong place, it looked as if the chic was kicking the eggs...it’s ok, I said to myself, I can add little flowers in that area. At this point I knew this card will no longer be a one-layer card 

The hat on the chic on the right was perfect, this was my initial inspiration, just love how cute it looks. The other chic however, did not share the same destiny. The hat looked awkward, mistake four! Once again, I will add little flowers to the hat/head...why not! 

I colored in my chicks and scene elements (they are so cute) and added a line on the chic’s head where I thought the hat should have been. 

Once I colored the hat, it looked muted (due to the inked background) so I decided to stamp another hat and cut out the flowers to pop up. 

Mistake five! The Copic colors bled onto the border....Now I knew this card will no longer have a one-layer border...oh well (once again). I trimmed the colored panel and mounted onto a gingham printed panel.

I thought about restarting for a split second...but I was actually having a fun time cleaning up my mess. Honestly at the end, the recipient won't know of any of these unfortunate events, even though I wish they would, it makes it so much more special. 

I bet you’re wondering what the final card looks like. But first, let’s recap! 

You can see here how I popped up the flowers on the chic’s hat. It really helped mask the muted colors of the hat. Also, the flowers in front of the eggs hide their poor placement (no more egg kicking!). 

This little chic looks so much better. The adorned hat with the flowers looks great. Oh, and the opening of the basket matches with the background. 

Here’s a close up. I shaded the hill, added some embellishments and glued onto a card base.  

Finally, this card is complete!!! 

I added a surprise on the inside.... I stamped both Chics as I originally intended. They are so cute with their fancy hats. 

 

It was a hot mess. There is nothing special about this card if you don’t know its history. I'm so glad I insisted, it was fun, a bit challenging, a lot frustrating and totally worth it! 

Thank you for sticking with me, I hope you get inspired and not give up right away. Give your not-so-perfect projects a chance....and see what happens. 

I will catch you next time