Cindi, that's the way I do it too. I made six pillow-top backgrounds first. Then, since I'm copying a card I already made, I was able to cut and fold the card bases and cut the mats and watercolor pieces for the focal piece. Next, I'll do the stenciling, then the paste embossing, then assembly, and then the Wink of Stella. Oh, yeah, and the inserts. Hmmm. That sounds like a lot, but it's really an easy card. Or maybe not. lol.
I'm dealing with the feral cats that live in my back yard. A lovely, wonderful lady is helping me to catch them and get them spayed. I'm going to bring the kittens into the house so we can treat their ills and tame them so they are adoptable. It is a lot more work than I realized, but it's wonderful to actually be doing something. The cat population in my back yard is out of control and growing. It will be so wonderful to get the kittens to the point where they are adoptable.
So far, I have only one kitten in the house, and she managed to escape from her pen; it took me a half hour to find her. The room she's in is a large family room where I keep my two indoor cats and the TV set. And all the boxes of stuff that don't fit anywhere else. The good thing was, in order to find the kitten, I had to start moving boxes, and I started going through them. I think I've just started a much-needed purge of unnecessary stuff.
However, I am determined to make a lot more cards this month!
Daria