Cardmaking

I read a book about a Mennonite family that did card making along with other hobbies. The one girl said she wasn't as good as her sister or mother and told about how much they loved it. There was a reference to a Stampin' Up representative that gave her mother a catalog, so out of curiosity, I did a search on the net about card making and Stampin' Up. Wow! I found so much information and had no idea how much of an art making cards could be. I had stamps when I was younger, but never really knew how to use them.

I will have to say I went hog wild the next few months. I subscribed to card making kits and bought tools, inks, etc. I've since cancelled all the subscriptions except for 2 Stamp of the Month clubs and one subscription from CrateJoy. The subscriptions are a great way to start out with stamping. You can find many tutorials using those kits on YouTube and they include almost everything you need to make some gorgeous cards.

I needed a thank you card and Simon Says Stamp had a lovely card kit in January that made some great winter themed thank you's.



 I found this perfect and just in time for making and sending out my Christmas Thank You cards. I had a ball making them up! I used the stamps from the kit and instead of using the designer papers, I used watercolor brush markers for the background color. I also added snowflake and bottle cap sequins to give it a little sparkle.

I'm learning how versatile stamps and other embellishments can be. There are things I would have never thought of doing - like decorating on the inside of the card or using different types of embellishments to decorate. I'm learning to look at things differently.

We Need a Revival!

This poor, poor blog has gone neglected for way too long, as had my crafting. Let's face it, life gets in the way and mine really got in the way. I hadn't really touched any crafts or needlework until just a bit ago, so I'll finally have something to post about again.

Cross stitch has gone to the wayside. It's not that I don't love making those precise little X's, but between my eyesight and my offspring not liking the "blocky" look to the finished design, there's really no reason to continue down that path. I'll keep a few things and a couple of kits to work on, but I'll be liquidating my cross stitch stash. I wonder if there are people out there who still stitch. Almost everyone I know has moved on to other hobbies.

I'm now a member of The Knitting Guild Association (TKGA) and am taking the Basics course to prepare for the Master Knitter's course. It is a lot more in depth than I had expected and I'm very pleased about that. I'm enjoying it and learning a lot. I've also found a local Guild here, so I will be attending my first meeting next month.

I've also been learning a bit about paper crafting, painting, drawing, and playing with inks and dies. I'm having a lot of fun with that as well. I've dug some crochet back out and have dusted off the sewing machine. I'm just having fun trying out new things and exploring the old and taking them to a new level. Life is full of excitement and things to do/try. I hope you will join in my journey and share your trials and triumphs with me as well!