Create and Craft obsession

As I've said already, I started crafting to create memories for my daughter in the form of scrapbook pages. Eventually I found the shopping channel 'Create and Craft' as just that - another place to shop for craft items.  However, these days it's part of my viewing choice watching it as entertainment rather than really thinking of buying products necessarily.  As those who know me well would confirm, it is on throughout the day and can almost be guaranteed to be on in the background if they visit for a brew.

What it has done is introduce me to a wider range of paper crafting products and craft companies who I would never have been aware of.  The likes of 'Hunkydory', 'Tattered Lace', 'Tonic', 'Spellbinders', 'Kanban' and 'Crafters Companion' are now staples of my crafting work but I'd never heard of things such as die cutting, embossing and decoupage before I found this channel.

It has proved to be an expensive discovery over the last few years but to be fair it is one of the only things I spend money on (well apart from my daughter obviously) and I get so much pleasure from it it is worth it.  It is very true that crafting helps to de-stress me and I've needed that over the last couple of years when work has got the better of me and when I finally gave it up.

I started to make cards once I'd found die cutting.  I bought a couple of 'Tonic' fairy dies and a few 'Tattered Lace' dies and got to work creating my first cards.  I was so proud of them.  Now I look back and although I still like them, in the same way with my first scrapbook pages, they look so basic compared to what I'm capable of now.

I didn't know about matting & layering, about different card shapes and what was actually achievable.

 

Now though my cards have come on in leaps and bounds.  'Create and Craft' not only sell the products but also show you what you can do with them.  This means that I can then transfer these skills to the other products I have - not just the things that are being sold at the time.

 

I've now done a couple of parties for family and friends with my Christmas cards but mainly make bespoke cards for people on a request basis.  I'd love to expand this to become a full time job but at the moment it is really just paying for my crafty stash.  I just need an occasion and a bit about what the recipients like and I'm away.

 

Here are a few of my favourite makes:

some cards made for Harry's 90th

One I made for my Bradford city mad nephew Zac

A touch of paper folding

One for the hubby

A pretty ballerina

A wedding

An anniversary

A new baby

 

At the moment I have a list of cards to make from birthday's to fathers' day.  I'm so thankful for my friends and family for supporting me and just hope that I can make enough money to support my 'Create and 'Craft' addiction.





A Walk in the Woods

As I mentioned in my last post, I began to scrapbook as a way of documenting Lucy's life.  When I was young photography was a very different animal.  You would have a film of 24 or 36 and those few pictures would be precious (well the ones that actually came out ok once you'd got them back from the processing shop) and were carefully placed into albums by my mum.

This was the same as I was growing up and holidays, parties, nights out would all fit on one film.  In a way I'm grateful for this now as I cannot imagine the kind of things that would be on social media if facebook had existed when I was in my formative years (it's bad enough what goes on there now I'm approaching the big 40).  I now have a select number of albums covering those special occasions in my life.

Of course all that has changed now with the advent of digital photography.  I went out and bought a fancy camera when I realised I needed better quality photos for my project work.  I now have thousands of photos of birthdays, Christmases, holidays and generally just day to day life stored on my laptop.  Sometimes I can spend hours looking through them but up until I found scrapbooking that's about all that happened.  They were never printed off and put in albums.  An occasional few made it to photo frames and were put out for people to see but most just sat there.

Now I can pick out my favourite images and create something that is special and a reminder of happy days.  I always write a bit about the situation as though I'm writing to an older Lucy and telling her about her life.  Although the pictures and the design are the creative part the journaling is important as a reminder of people, places and dates.  I used to spend hours going through old photos with my nan and unless the names of those on the photo were written on the back then it was difficult for her to remember who some of them were.  Hopefully this way Lucy will always know who she's met in her life.

Now some are a feature on her bedroom wall.

 

A recent family day out was to St Ives Woods in Bingley.  When we had our Labradors we used to go here quite often but since Lucy has been born we haven't been until then.  On May Bank Holiday we went for a walk there. 

 

Lucy loved it.

 

She rushed around the woods looking for all the carved figures that they have throughout the woods.  She cuddled the fairies and said hello to them all.  She thought the little dwarf with his pants down was hilarious.  She wasn't very happy about the scary witch and wouldn't go near but was happy to have her photo taken with the rest of them.

 

Now I took a number of photos (just on my phone) and these could quite easily have stayed there.  However, it was such a lovely day that when we got home I set about taking those photos and turning them into scrapbook pages.  Now a memory has been created that will be there for Lucy to look back on and perhaps recreate with her own children in many years to come.



Here goes!!!

Well, having meant to start a blog for a long time now, I've finally got myself sorted.  I want this to be a place I can share my latest crafty projects and ideas.  For those who don't know much about my crafty life I haven't been papercrafting for all that long (in fact I still remember being sat in front of the 2012 Olympics with a glass of wine creating my first scrapbook pages) but it has completely taken over my life.  I'm officially addicted.

It all started when Lucy, my daughter, turned 1 and I wanted to do something special with the photos I took of the big day.  My sister Kate was a fabulous crafter and I asked her to create a scrapbook album for me.  I had absolutely no idea what I was asking her to do (growing up as a child scrapbooking meant cutting clips of gazza out of the newspaper and sticking it in a book of sugar paper) and when I realised what a big job it might be I decided to give it a go myself. 

I've never looked back!!

Kate gave me a bag of 'bits' and I bought 1 12x12 pad of paper and a few more embellishments.  Three years later I've outgrown the dining room table

and have gone on to convert the spare bedroom into my own craft room

 

 

Now I can spend many a happy hour creating.  In those three years I've gone on to cardmaking and I love making bespoke cards for friends and family.  Sometimes it feels like family birthdays are sponsored by 'Wild About Crafting' (my unofficial crafty name).  recently I made cards for my nephew's 6th birthday as well as my parents' birthdays and anniversary.

 

 

 

It really has helped me over the last few difficult months after leaving work.  It has been extremely therapeutic and hopefully one day I might be able to make something more of my hobby.  I've had a couple of card parties so far and Kate and I have done one craft stall.  I'm hoping that I can make the thing I love into something that could change my future.

 

Well, that's all for now

 

Nick