The Power of Practice and my card making journey

Hello dear Crafters,

Thank you for hoping along! You should have come from - Mary Ellen Driggs blog or if you are new to our hop, you can start here at Karen's blog. 

(This graphic has been made by dear friend and amazing crafter Vicki Parson)

I am here with my crafting journey story.

My crafting journey started in 2014! Before that, it was a little paper crafts during school breaks or wall murals in school, Biology sketches of cells etc nothing more could qualify as arts for me. As a cadet and a soldier, from end of my teens till I was almost 30, my life was tough with the kind of profession I chose. I have always had hobbies and during those years. I learnt guitar, playing it and singing became my weekend dose of recuperation.

In 2014, a friend introduced me to quilling and I was glued to those paper strips. I would check Pinterest and make my quilled creations and cards. You can check my Quilling projects here. I remember being fascinated with card making while I checked Quilling projects on Pinterest. My quilling journey slowed down in 2015 when i was blessed with a baby boy and would just occasionally make cards or do some hand lettering till he turned 2.

It was in 2017 when I was reintroduced to the beautiful world of stamping on Instagram. It was  Jasleen, a lovely crafter (who used to quill too) who patiently helped me understand the challenges of cardmaking and stamping. I bought my first stamp and made this card - in May 2017. You see, I put all I had, pattern paper, quilling, the flowers with some masking and a hand lettered sentiment. Though people encouraged me tremendously with wonderful comments on this card. I now see that the card had a lot of scope of improvement

Then I bought a stencil and tried my hand with stenciling and I was happy then, but now when I look at it, it was.. meh...

I was earning well at the time but was blown away by the expenses this hobby may incur and didn't want to invest so much in a hobby. So I started playing at challenges in 2017, with some beginners luck, I won occassionally, mostly for my quilled projects. In 2018, I did more stamping and got a little better and started winning at more challenges and I was thrilled to get some International stamps. Here are list of my recognition till 2019. 

So, first, I wanted to craft on budget and if I won, it would help me get more supplies. Also, playing at challenges, gave me place to look for inspiration, look closely - at how the DT are interpreting and make my brain cells work, on how can I do it differently? Secondly, if I won $25 GC, I would put same amount in my kitty to buy my expensive supplies. For example, I always wanted to buy a die cutting machine, but I waited till I had almost won Rs 7000/- worth GCs and then bought myself a Big shot.

In my opinion, when we work for a goal - we get better in the process. I remember, when in 2018 I applied for a DT and wasn't chosen, I said to myself, I have to get better and learn more techniques. It was then that I asked  Loll Thompson (Card making Goddess) if I could CASE her cards and she was such a great teacher to me for those 10 CASEs and made me learn more. Here are all the cards I made for my Inspired by Loll series.

And somewhere in late 2019 I realised I can be a teacher too and started my You tube channel. It is because of the love and encouragement of this crafting community I am still at it and trying to improve everyday. Here is a card, loved by many crafters that I made for a special occasion. You can watch how I created this card on my You tube channel - here.

You can check my journey from my first card to the latest card on Instagram - here and decide yourself how good I was and how much practice has helped. Let me know if you have any questions in the comments below and I'd love to get back to you.

Here's a beautiful thought for all us crafters striving to get better each day.

Your next stop is the talented Charlotte Ehrukainen , checkout her story to be inspired!

Also,

So let's learn from each other.