The Not So Great Start to My Papercraft Card Making Journey!

So here it is. My first blog post! I am posting these cards that I don't like because this blog is supposed to document my creative journey, and that includes the bad, and the ugly!

These are my first few attempts at all the fancy card making, and it is not real pretty...

I suppose it could be worse. LOL Here's the back story... 

In 2018 and 2019,  I "made cards" with just handlettering (which I had just started in 2018, as well), and maybe a little drawing, and sometimes some stickers or washi tape, all on pre-folded cards and matching envelope. They were nothing to write home about. (ha! No pun intended actually!) You can see some of them on my instagram feed.

Back then, I was a way into starting a Bullet Journal (a.k.a. bujo), which many people make amazing artistic layouts in. I liked the idea of combining a creative outlet with a practical planner! I continue to use a Bullet Journal (on and off), and you will probably see some of that here too in the future. 

So, I started buying stamps in 2019, after attending a Pinners Conference (which I highly recommend!). I went to a class by Catherine Pooler introducing her Canvo Bullet Journal. FYI, I even talked to her at her booth, and she was so nice! Little did I know I was conversing with card making royalty!

As it turns out, I found that it was hard to get things to stamp nicely in my bullet journals. I was not using the Canvo, BTW. I used Lemome, Scribbles that Matter, Shine Bright, and Leuchtturm 1917. Some of which did not have the paper thickness needed for stamping, so there was often a lot of ghosting and bleeding, but I kept trying here and there. (I am about to start a new bujo for July with an Archer & Olive journal that has 160gm paper, so here's hoping that I can stamp better in that!)

Fast forward to 2021... I wanted to get back to keeping a Bullet Journal. (There wasn't a lot to plan during a pandemic, so my bullet journaling ceased in 2020!) I purchased a ton of foiled planner stickers on Etsy, but after spending a LOT of money, I thought... I can make those myself. and it will probably be cheaper in the long run after the initial investment. After looking up a few YouTube videos, I was confident I could do it, and the Cricut Explore Air 2 just happened to be on sale, so I bought it and the Heidi Swapp Minc, and went and watched even more YouTube tutorials.

I wanted to see what other things I could do with the Minc and foiling, and that's when I stumbled upon Nancy Stamps. She is a foiling goddess!!! I love all the shiny things, and she opened me up to this world of foiling, and stamping, and cardmaking! I'm not really a cutsie animal and flowers kind of girl, but then I found Glitter Grunge Greetings, and I was so inspired by Ryan's style, that I was all in!

As a typical newbie, I started buying ALL THE THINGS for the real deal card making (stamps, dies, stencils, cardstock paper, patterned paper, embellishments, glitter, watercolors, etc, etc, etc!)!!! I did happen to have some things in my craft stash already, but I burned a hole in my stimulus check! LOL

After two months of power-buying supplies (and then things to store them in!), and watching a ton of YouTube videos, I attempted to make a card for the first time in April... and then a few more in May. I was disappointed to say the least. I thought I'd be better at it. Did I just invest all this money in something I am bad at?!?

I realized that "practice makes perfect" and "if you don't use it, you loose it" were very applicable to my current situation, so I keep trying! I need to hone my craft! I need to find my groove! I need to develop my own style. And even if I am never the #1 crafter, just doing these things is good for my mind and good for my soul.

And that's when I decided to document my journey to see my progress all in one place, in all my crafty endeavors. And maybe some day, someone who wants to start their own crafty journey will stumble upon my blog, and it inspires them to be an imperfect creative.