Day 30: Meaning

I am the worst. Last day of June and this is probably only the 10th.. okay like.. 5th?! entry I've made for this! Yikes! I've got all my posts ready to go, I just gotta type the stuff up. So perhaps through out the next few weeks I'll get caught up. We'll see.

Day 30: What does crafting mean to you?

WARNING: I waffle in the post, a LOT.. and it gets pretty DEEP! Hah. Cup of coffee at the ready.. I warned ya. :)

Well, I'd like to say everything.. but I'm not quite sure it means everything. It is a fantastic hobby to have though. An escape more than anything. You can literally do anything you like an there really is no right or wrong, it's whatever you enjoy.

Be creative.

The colouring aspect of my craft would be the thing I enjoy the most, although that can depend on what day you ask me. It's a great way to just switch off, sitting in front of the TV, or sprawled all over the floor.. or your bed or in the garden - wherever - which is the fantastic thing. Make sure your pens are in a portable container and you can take yourself wherever you wish. If I'm having a bad day, when my mojo doesn't want to play.. then it's the pretty paper and cardstock aspect of my craft which I enjoy the most. It's a means of being creative and making things which you can give to people who can enjoy them even more.

Depending on where you stand regarding the whole cardmaking vs. scrapbooking you may or may not agree with me here.

I know a lot of people started off their papercrafting adventure with scrapbooking, and moved over to card making as a way of fulfilling their creative needs more quickly.. as in.. a card takes perhaps a couple hours.. a scrapbook page may take you a day.

Many people, myself included, started off with cardmaking as a means of sharing keepsakes with friends and family.

.. and then there is a haze between the two.. which is kinda what I'm starting to become. Not a haze. I'm not becoming a haze.. that happened a long time ago. What I mean is I think I'm starting to branch off scrapbooking.. or more specifically 'memory keeping' as well as keeping a hold of my cardmaking love.

I think it's important to be able to share what you make with people other than yourself.. keeping your cards in boxes is not healthy. Whether you give them away as keepsakes, or gifts. Sell them for charity or to feed your crafty stash. Get your makes out there. It's important!!

.. as I grow older I recognise that memory keeping is also HUGELY important. Keeping things for yourself and your close family to flick through in time. When I thought about it, the amount of time and effort that goes into making a huge 12x12 scrapbook made me wanna die.. and so I started exploring the Project Life side of scrapbooking. DEFINITELY more my thing. I've made a smaller Sn@p album with older photos of my Mam's childhood and older photos of my grandmas and grandad.. and even a couple of their parents. It's crazy!! .. and then I'm slowly making my way through a Project Life album. Instead of keeping all of those photos on my phone, I print out the ones which mean something to me and make sure I include them with a little journalling each time.

So, in essence, what does my craft mean to me?! An escape from the every day, it's a way to share a little slice of my and my love with friends, family and customers, and to create memories for.. dare I say it? generations to come!!

xo

Day 12: Your Medium

Day 12: What's your favourite medium to work with?

I've totally fallen off the bandwagon here, have I not?

I promise to catch up on the past few days I've missed as they were some of my fave topics.

Today though, it's all about PROMARKERS. ;)

I've been using ProMarkers for about.. 2 and a bit years now and I LOVE them. I cannot recommend them highly enough. 

Let me start by dispelling the myth of Copics being superior to ProMarkers. It annoys me no end that people compare them. Yes, they're both alcohol markers but that's where the similarity ends. ProMarkers and Copics have different nibs, a different recipe of ink among other things.

I have tried my hand at Copics, infact I had a collection of 30+ and I got rid of them all. The more saturated colours destroyed their own nibs after a while and they ran out so quickly I couldn't believe it. I do have positive things to say though, before you start shooting at me.. the nib is perfect for all sorts of techniques and it's such a delight to use. The shape of the Sketch markers are so comfortable and make the markers a breeze to use.. but in the end I went back to my faithful ProMarkers.

I love how long they last. 

I love how easy they are to use.

They're so easily available and don't break the bank.

There is so much inspiration out there from both crafters and artists.

I hate that there is such a limit on colours, especially pinks, yellows and purples. Oh, and oranges. Hell there could be waaaaay more colours. They've added a bunch of Limited Edition colours to the collection and FlexMarkers also bring a more pastel vibe to the whole grouping as well as some more saturated colours here and there.

I would love a brush nib. L-O-V-E. Although the fine tip works wonders too. You just gotta get your technique down. Plus, if you have a newer, fresher bullet nib and a light hand there is nothing you can't achieve with a bullet nib that you can with a brush nib. :)

A couple months ago I started a little ProMarker journal as a way to keep track of different colour combos, techniques, pens I need and other fun colouring stuffs. 

Any questions? Hit me. xo

P.S Your cardstock has a lot to do with how much you're gonna love your pens. Find a cardstock that works well for you and you'll have endless hours of fun.

Day 9: Favourite Crafter

Day 9: Tell us who your favourite crafter is.

That is a real tricky one. I have a million and one. The girl who started me off on this whole track was Kristina Werner, and to this day I still love her style and how she's evolved over the years.

Amy Rysavy who is the designer behind Amy R stamps is also another hero of mine. I love the YouTube videos and her style is awesome too.

I could list a whole bunch of crafters who I follow and admire on FB and here in blog land, but I'd HATE to miss anyone out. So.. I'ma just tell you that it's pretty much EVERYONE. 

I love you all. You always inspire me with each and every creation. :)

Day 7: 10 Happy Things

Day 7: Tell us ten things that make you happy.

In no particular order.

1. Sleep.

2. Papercrafting and everything that goes with it. Paper. Ohhh, paper, paper, paper.. and pens. Pens.

3. The idea of travelling and travel planning.. and hopefully soon.. actual travelling.

4. The sound of rain on the windows and roof of the house on a cold and unpredictable night.

5. A full day of cleaning and organising.. every once in a while.

6. Late night conversations with loved ones.

7. Cider.. of maaaany flavours.

8. Baking and cooking. Particularly the tasting part of it all.

9. Reading and music.

10. Bags. Lots and lots of bags. Mainly satchels.

Not as tricky as I'd have thought. Infact, I could probably continue.. but I won't. Head over to Karoove now and join in!! xo

Day 6: Inspiration

Day 6: Tell us how you/where you get your inspiration.

I kinda answered this one yesterday.

I usually take inspiration from the patterned paper pack I plan on using on that particular project. I find it very difficult to create a card without even the slightest slice of patterned paper. 

I am friends with so many amazing crafters on FB, I follow so many blogs.. and of course I have access to the Internet which is the biggest source of inspiration EVER.

I'm not really one for Pinterest, I spend waaay to much time on there once I get going, so I tend to stick to blogs, challenge blogs and YouTube being another main contender.

I have a notebook which I keep with me at all times when I'm on the laptop and always make a note of things which catch my eye, and projects/ themes/ colour ways I'd like to try. I'd recommend you do the same - else you'll never remember when your heads filled with real life stuff..

.. which I find always gets in the way of play!! Heh.

*love.

Day 5: Favourite Quote

Day 5: What’s your favourite quote and why you love it.

Ohhh, that's tricky. It'd probably be a song lyric as opposed to a quote as such.

'Against the grain should be a way of life' - Nickelback. 

Day 4: What's your craft?

Day 4: What's your craft? What is it about your craft that floats your boat so much?

So if you've been a follower of my blog for a week, a year.. or even a day.. you will know that my t'ing is.. CARDMAKING.

Okay, so I dabble in SMASH*, 'scrapbooking' and 3D projects every now and then.. but not very often.

Why do I love CARDMAKING so much?! Simple. It involves paper.

People often ask where I get my inspiration from, and aside from all of the lovely crafters on FB and blogs I follow.. the patterned paper I use really guides me in the right direction. Infact, I find it incredibly difficult to create a project with no patterned paper.

Okay, so enough of the P word, hah! Embellishments are another massive factor behind my card making ventures. I love how much variety there is from flowers, to brads and buttons (which are three of my faves) to washi tape, ribbon and die cuts (which I'm using a lot more of than I used to).

Cards are also a chance to give a little piece of your creativeness and share it with friends and family. 

As a lot of you know, I love to colour up images too, which always look best adorning the front of a card. 

Can't wait to hear what other peoples crafts are and what they like about it!

*love.

Day 3: Five Words

Day Three: Describe yourself in five words

1. Sarcastic

2. Joker

3. Ridiculous

4. Adaptable

5. Imaginative

.. need I explain myself?

Out. xo

Day 2: Favourite Gadget

Day 2: Tell us all about your favourite craft gadget and why it's just the bees knees 

Can I be ridiculous and say my paper trimmer/ guillotine? Okaaay.. sorry for even suggesting it..

How's about this little guy. I literally couldn't do my crafting without it. I use it for most things, aside from setting brads. I take the back off my DST with it, use it to pick up little gem stones.. oh.. and scrape Glossy Accents off my glass mat at the end of a crafting session! :) 

I can't even remember where I bought mine now, so I couldn't point you in the right direction.. but just Google WRMK Brad Setter and you should be set.

Out. xo

Day 1: Craftings

Day 1: Tell us all about how you got into crafting.

Long story short. YouTube.

It was a couple years ago now.. well okay.. like four.. when my Mother Goose was in hospital. She had been struck with a subarachnoid hemorrhage (I'd advise you not to bother Googling that if you're the kinda person who is a little OTT when it comes to medical stuff.. it might make you wanna rethink a few things).. I was up til the early hours of the morning almost every night just browsing the web.. and I happened to come across a video by Kristina Werner. She was making a gorgeous card.. and I thought.. HEY!! I wanna be able to do that.

I've always loved stationary, paper and the like.. so thought that this would be a fab thing to get my creative juices flowing and take my mind off other things going on in my life. It was around November/ December time and I remember setting myself a strict deadline of creating my own Christmas cards.

Off I flew and hit eBay!! 

I got a bunch of Christmas cards made for the ladies I play darts with and a few up coming birthdays. At that time I wasn't down with the kids.. I didn't know the in's and out's and I had no idea of brands and such, so as for quality.. well.. uh huh. Pleased to say I have no photographic evidence of the first stuff I ever made.. as I wasn't even aware of blogging and the art of sharing the going's on in one's crafty bubble with the world beyond.

Looking back now.. the stuff I made was crap.. but it was a start. I'm so pleased I found this little *chuckles* MASSIVE WORLD WIDE paper crafting community. It's like a family I share things with through the computer.

My only wish now.. is to have a friend near by who I can share things with in real time. Anyone around the Newcastle area wanting a crafting buddy. Give me a shout! LOL!

Until tomorrow. xo