Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Updated Birthday Cake Card



I loved and hated this card when I first designed it last winter. When I did, I was convinced it was my ticket to etsy superstardom. At the time, all I had were birthday party invitations, a very narrow market. By expanding to generic greeting cards I thought I could tap into a much bigger market. After having it up for a few months, though, I took it down. I was simply not happy with it.

Here's the original:



Things I hate about this original card:

  • The sentiment. On the outside, it says "Some wonderful things happen only once in a lifetime" then you open it and it says "Like you! Happy birthday!"

    Ick! The cloyingly sweet message makes it totally inappropriate to give to almost anyone.

  • Astrobrite. I bought several packs of Astrobrite to use as cardstock because it was inexpensive. I found that it was really hard to work with the stuff precisely because of that factor: it feels really, really cheap. It makes it really unpleasant to work with something if it's of poor quality.

  • The artwork. I liked that cake originally, but after working with it for a long time, the overuse of graduated fills and overall fussiness got to me.
What I liked about it:
  • The mechanics. The engineering worked GREAT. As you opened it, the cake neatly pops up through a slot in the cake stand. It was a little magical and it worked beautifully smoothly.
So here are some more pix of the new one:





New cake image! Nice new patterned paper! Humorous quote!

Sooooo much cuter!


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