Things I have learnt

Thank you all very much for the lovely comments.  I seem to have discovered a talent I didn't know I had - I would never previously have said I was at all artistic - I can cook and crochet, but that was about it.  My mother used to paint, my sister is incredibly good at sewing and making or repurposing things for the home, I've always said they're the ones with the artistic talents.

I have no problem at all thinking up ideas for cards - an idea just seems to pop into my head....quite often in the middle of the night!  I've always had a good eye for colour and just sort of know what designs, patterns and colours would look good together on a card.  I've, very fortunately as it turns out, saved all the cards we've been given over the last few years, so have a couple of shoe boxes and a large carrier bag full of them.  I use bits of these received cards a lot when making my own cards, as I'm sure lots of other cardmakers do.  I also have several pads of topper papers, plenty of embellishments such as coloured stones, paper flowers, butterflies, felt shapes etc, and lots of sheets of gold, silver or bronze coloured letters.  And of course several packs of different sized card stock and envelopes.

So what have I learnt in the few months I've been doing this hobby?

Well, for a start, don't rush out and buy up everything the craft shop sells.  Not that I did or spent loads, but I've certainly bought things in the craft shops that turned out to be not strictly necessary or even that useful for the type of cards I'm making.  I was given a lot of stuff, as mentioned in my last post, and I know I have stuff that I won't need and will pay it forward in due course and offer my surplus or unwanted things to whoever wants them.  I've found it's easy to pick up various craft bits very cheaply from charity shops and car boots - even the major craft shops sell off bits cheap in sales.  And places like Wilkos and The Works have cheap craft things....eg, I got a pack of 80 sheets of tissue paper and a pack of 20 coloured pipe cleaners (for making flowers) for a pound each in The Works.

For sticking things on cards I use several different things - PVA glue, Pritt sticks, glue dots, a glue pen, little sticky pads, a glue stripe dispenser that looks like a Sellotape dispenser and, just recently, narrow double sided tape.  I've found I am very messy with glue and the glue dots are next to useless as they tend to roll themselves up into balls and stick stubbornly to the tweezers.  Glue and the Pritt sticks tend to make the cards warp if I use too much or on a large area - but that's partly because the card stock may be too thin.

So that's another thing learnt - it's not worth buying cheap card stock, it's generally cheap because it's thin.  And if it's thin, then it warps and things (toppers, writing etc) show through to the other side.

Ink stamping - I have loads of stamps, Hazel and Ann both sent me a lot, and I've bought quite a few when I saw them at amazingly cheap prices.  I have ink pads in several different colours, I also bought a set of acrylic blocks to mount the stamps on.  I love the idea (and look) of stamping, but oh boy do I need LOTS of practise at it!  I'm so messy with it!  I've dropped an ink pad which (of course) landed upside down on the card I was making, I'm always managing to rest my hand or arm on an open ink pad and then smearing it everywhere.  When I'm stamping, I do of course test it out on scrap paper first.....I'm either too heavy-handed with the pressing, meaning the image comes out as a big blob, or too scared of being heavy-handed and do it so lightly the image is barely visible.  As I said, lots more practise needed.  But it's fun, I love it!