This blog was started by me to help people that are new to the “crafting with paper” hobby. First a little background to what started my love for crafting with paper. My first experience was when my daughter showed me her photo albums. They were so cute and nothing like the albums that I had put pictures in when she and her brothers and sister were growing up. I am of the generation that took pictures with a camera that you first had to buy film for and then take the film to be developed somewhere. You then waited days for the film to be developed and with great anticipation, a week or so later would go to pick up your developed pictures and pay for the process. I would be so excited to open the package and view the pictures I had taken that would document my children’s life and the activities I spent with them. I usually couldn’t wait to get home to view them. I would open the envelope the developer had put them in as soon as I got into the car. I would consider it a great day if I loved all the pictures I had paid for to be developed. This however was a rare occurrence.
For anyone who is less then half a century in age probably don’t understand what I’m even talking about. You see because we didn’t have any way to preview the pictures we had taken on our beloved camera, we couldn’t pick and choose which shots to have developed. So if we had taken 20 shots that’s what we paid the developer to print. Many times some of the pictures were so bad (overexposed, underexposed) and many other disasters. I would quite often end up with maybe only a few pictures that I could put in an album for posterity.
Getting back to my daughters albums. Hers were so adorably decorated with stickers and stuff which told a whole story. Mine simply had maybe a comment describing the event or where the picture was taken or their age in the picture. You get the point. I went to a class that taught her “scrapbooking method”. It took 3 hrs. to complete 1 page in the album. It was the one and only page I ever completed!
You see, I had recently become a single mother of 4 when my husband went on a business trip and never came back. I knew right away, although I enjoyed her “scrapbooking pages” that I not only would never have the free time to do this, but in those days the hobby was just too expensive.
I loved to sew. That was my hobby at the time. And, as most sewing enthusiasts would testify, I had quite a stash of fabric that I needed to use! So, all my handmade gifts were things I made from fabric.
Jump to the age of the internet and the shopping channels on TV. I was watching one of those shopping channels one day and it happened to be national crafting month. I was watching a presentation of a craft kit that contained everything that you would need to make quilled greeting cards for all occasions. I had never seen or heard of quilling before but I was definitely intrigued. So I bought it. I was hooked. I made several cards with quilled images on the front of the card and it was so much fun. It was something I could do while watching TV (one of my addictions). That was the beginning of my love affair with paper!
I have been crafting with paper for a few years now and have learned so much since that first purchase. My intention for this blog is to attempt to prevent newcomers from making the expensive mistakes that I made along the way to where I am now. Of course, there is so many websites and blogs now that feature card making and quilling and all things “paper” that you might not think there is a need for another one. But, oh how I wish there had been one that would have helped me choose which products were the best or where to find out how to do some technique that I wanted to try and what were the best products to achieve it! I intend to post my creations with instructions to copy but also will review what I feel are the products that are the best at achieving what they claim to do. If I could get back back the money I spent on mistakes or disappointing products I would be able to retire from my job. This blog will not be trying to sell you anything. So the products I personally recommend will not have any hidden agenda but will only be based on my experience with them. I will attempt to also have a link as to where to buy those products. I do not receive any compensation from those referrals or your purchases you might make.
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