Hello, thanks for visiting my blog. I must say that first and foremost I am a clean and simple card maker, this is because I am drawn more to those types of cards in a shop (not that I buy cards any more) and I prefer simple designs to cards with lots of layers and elements! I originally started making my own cards because I could never find cards in the shops that were exactly what I wanted so took matters into my own hands. For the last four years I have made cards for friends and family, some of whom ask me to make card for them to give to people. My cards have improved greatly over the time I have been making them and I now know how to make cards consistently that I am happy with.
My main forms of inspiration are watching YouTube videos, the main people I watch videos by are Darlene DeViries, Jennifer McGuire and Kristina Werner. There are other people's videos who I do watch but I feel most inspired by those three. I feel their styles have influenced my card making most and if I am feeling uninspired I look back over their videos for inspiration. I have liked a lot of card makers and stamp designers on Facebook which allows me to get inspiration without looking for it. There is also Pinterest which helps me when I want to make a specific card but I can't find inspiration anywhere else. I like to use lots of inspiration points as I do not like to copy cards, the way I avoid copying is to never have a reference piece when creating a card as it allows me to make things to a mental image which can alter when I get started.
When making a card I often have a specific idea in mind when I look through my stamp sets and dies, it does help when I am making a card for someone I know well as I can pick colours and icons which I know they will appreciate with a sentiment that says exactly what I want to say. If I haven't got a sentiment that works with my card idea I will often use letter stamps and build my own. I don't tend to make cards for the sake of making cards, as generally I am less happy with the outcome. Other than making cards for people I am partial to partaking in card making challenges, I especially like challenges that allow for a great deal of flexibility as I like freedom when I create.
I do like to create on a budget as it is very easy to spend money without realising it when acquiring new products. In order to cut costs I often buy small stamp sets to maximise the amount of variation in my stash and I buy cube ink pads to get more colours without spending a lot of money. I do feel that my collection is now quite complete for making cards all year round so I generally only buy new products if I feel as if they really stand out. My favourite brands of stamp makers as Lawn Fawn, Paper Smooches and WPlus9 as they have a good range of sentiments and icons. I have also a collection of dies which I like to use on my projects, I mainly have sentiment dies as they add a bit of variation to clean and simple cards. I have also joined in the embossing paste craze, but instead of spending money on stencils I have made my own using my dies and acetate sheets which lets me create the stencils I want.
Thanks for stopping by my blog, I hope you were inspired by my creations.
