I have finally finished Jo's 21st card... and yes, there were there bumps along the way. It took me a total of 5 days to complete the whole project. A lot longer than I expected. It's approximately 60cm in diameter so it's quite big.



First I had to draw a layout of how I wanted it to look like. And me being the least artistic person in the household, I struggled to draw something that even remotely looked like what I had in mind. After a lot of scrap pieces of paper and different coloured pencils, a rough outline was eventually drawn and then I had to cut a template of the whole thing. I drew my petals according to size and cut out 21 of them. I then had to cut out the middle part and this took time to figure out how big I wanted it as it all depended on how many petals I could fit onto it.

My table wasn't big enough for the whole template to sit on, so I moved to the floor. Arranged the whole flower, which looked quite good and therefore made me even more excited about making it. But my attitude towards making this card was not always positive. First, I needed my brother's help (because he's the creative one in my family) and asked him for advice on how to actually assemble it and what materials I should buy. Because my brother is a perfectionist, and I'm not, our ideas clashed which resulted in an argument. That's when I started to feel like I should quit. But no, I persisted and compromised with my brother (after so long) and what to buy the materials.

I checked out the prices of the material available from a variety of stores, so again, that took time. Went back the next day to buy the cheapest material that I found, which was from the newsagent. 2 x A1 sheets of yellow paper, 3x A1 sheets of cardboard.

Back at home, I had to scan a petal template into Adobe Illustrator where I would copy and paste the sentences that my friends had given me onto a petal each. A sentence each saying what they loved about Jo. This was another part of the process that took a lot of time, nagging and spamming of emails. At some points it got frustrating that people wouldn't reply ASAP because it meant I had to put my work on hold until I received their sentences.

While waiting for the sentences, I still had to cut out all the petals from the yellow paper AND the cardboard. The cardboard was there to give it support. It was tough cutting the cardboard. I had to use a stanley knife to cut through it because it was too thick for scissors. Did you know that using a stanley knife to cut through cardboard is a really good workout?! lolz. My arms were so sore after cutting through 20 pieces of cardboard! And then on top of that, I still had to cut out the yellow petals to paste on top.

I eventually cut everything out, pasted it all together and then came the hard part. I had to try and stick the petals onto the centre part and make sure they didn't move or fall off. First I tried gluing it... that didn't stay. Then I tried sticky taping it... it still didn't stay. Finally, my brother came up with the idea of stapling it. And that worked. Finally. It took me ages to figure it out though.

Then had to add the final touchings: the photos, messages, two butterflies and two ladybugs. And tada! It was finished! *phew* I'm tired and stressed just remembering the whole process! lolz

my thoughts @ 10:36 AM

_________