Hey! Guess what! It's my 100th post on this blog!
Not too shabby given I started this blog as an "unofficial blog". I have to admit this is the only blog I've managed to keep alive for more than 3 months!
And to celebrate(?) 100th post, I thought I'd post a few cards from the past to see the progression of my cardmaking hobby. At the end, I'll post a few new cards as well seeing as I've been making a few to help out Steph!
*THIS IS A WHOPPING BIG POST. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. LOL*
So here's a short story of my cardmaking life.
I've always been a bit of a crafty girl. My childhood dream was always (unllike most other kids, it never changed right through till high school) to draw for Walt Disney. Well, by some fate or whatever you'd like to call it, I've ended up in medical school. I will be graduating this coming December (scary!) and even scarier, be a 'real' doctor end of November (I get MB ChB but for those of you in the US, yes, that's the same MD that House has after his name!).
Sorry I digressed. Back to cardmaking. I used to make cards, bookmarks and whatnot from my scrap papers and whatever else I could rummage around the house. Then when I finally went to university, there was a decent scrapbooking shop in Dunedin at a walking distance!!! I went and spent $100 on paper and such. Unfortunately, it was their closing down 50% off sale so I never got to go back again T_T But my crafting supplies had certainly 'upgraded' since that visit.
Here are a few cards before my stamping days...
Here are a few cards before my stamping days...
A coffee card. I really love that patterned paper, but now, I seriously don't know what to do. It might have to be that it becomes a part of my scrapbook when I finally do make a start on it.
Then I had a go at some long skinny cards...
This was using a cardmaking set, so not really my idea.
Then I had a new hobby in between and started amigurumi (crocheted soft toys). Here are a couple of my favourites including a mini poodle keychain, blue teddy and my parents' anniversary bears. See more of my other creations here and here.
Then in my 3rd year of university, my (one and only) scrapbooking friend introduced me to *drum rolls* Cuttlebug! I thought it was the coolest thing ever cutting out alphabet letters, because boy oh boy, are those alphabet chipboards and stickers expensive!!!
At the end of the year, I managed to snag one for myself for $70 at a Christmas sale (pretty good deal given it was normally $120!). So I finally started to cross over that line into the dark side of serious crafting. Still then, stamping was a "no-no" to me, because tiny sets here were like $30+ to get and there was not a single stamp that really 'grabbed me' so to speak. I managed to get some Sizzix dies and had a play around. Some more cards (yes, cards you never got to see till now!) from my pre-stamping days.
Now would it surprise you if I said I've only been stamping for 1.5 years now? I came across Papertrey Ink whilst looking for a crochet pattern for a small flower. I somehow ended up in Nichole Heady's blog with senior DT challenge. Then I saw her cards and went "WOW". Perhaps clicking that Papertrey Ink button ont he side panel was a bad idea, but the moment I saw those stamps, I had to get them. So I took my time researching and looking through the shop at least 5 times and made my first order...
Now with international shipping, it couldn't possibly take longer. So I got bored in between waiting for that parcel, and started making some cards with some 'stolen' sentiments from some stamp sets...
Then my parcel finally arrived! Now, looking back now, what a terrible choice of stamp sets and ink pads I had. Most of those first order sets I hardly use now <_< Anyway, first stamped cards! Just note that I was still using crappy local cardstock that wouldn't hold itself.
Now, we finally get to the business part. I save photos in chronological monthly folders. So here are some of my favourite cards from each month since March 2011 (not that long ago!) - just happens that I have nothing from Jan/Feb 2011.
MARCH 2011
APRIL 2011
(a re-do of a card I did in April because the photo quality was terrible)
MAY 2011
(apologies for terrible photo quality)
JUNE 2011
No card, but I made a ruffle necklace lol
If you are wondering at the lack of cards early in 2011, I was waiting to put in a big order in July... I didn't like my choice of first few stamps!
JULY 2011
So I put in that big order for my birthday. But we got snowed in twice (quite rare for Christchurch), the US was having a huge backlog of parcels to New Zealand and Aussie because of our awesome currency. And there was the Stamp-A-Faire. So I didn't get it till mid-late August. So I crocheted a couple of baby hats to take to birthing suite with me on my Obstetrics & Gynaecology run. These only take like 30 minutes to crochet because of that thick 12ply yarn! Such a shame the yarn's no longer produced (along with my other favourite - Patons Smoothie DK).
AUG 2011
My order finally arrived! And you will now see cards you recognise from this blog. I was so happy with this first one, that I just had to show it off somewhere. And that is how this blog was born. Lol.
And note, I finally got some PTI cardstock here :D
SEPTEMBER 2011
I got serious stamping from here onwards. Bad news was that the biggest exam of medical school was only a month away...
Christmas cards started when I finally made that order for Christmas sets (because I had none!).
OCTOBER 2011
Not sure if anyone remembers, but this card used fake mirror stamping with tissue paper. I did a tutorial on it on the blog *click here*
But I still did a lot of cardmaking under the pretence that it was "stress relief*
NOVEMBER 2011
Exams finished early November. God knows how I passed given I didn't do all that much studying. Perhaps my mantra, "study steadily throughout the year" did me some good. I didn't really start studying properly till the week before exams... D:
But anyway, I had two weeks off after exams whilst waiting eagerly for that "congratulations you passed, therefore you only get two weeks before you are back to work" email. I started tackling some challenge blogs...
Remember the November blog hop???
DECEMBER 2011
December was a sort of misting month. Steph sent me some for Christmas and I was really into it for a while...
JANUARY 2012
I would love to share the card that got accepted into PaperCrafts Stamp It! Volume 9 here, but you are going to have to wait for the mag to come out. I don't even know when it's getting printed <_<
FEBRUARY 2012
Cromwell month. I was alway for 3 months as of Feb 1st. I did take my crafting things with me to Cromwell, but I did not have a good camera T_T So my very average phone had to do...
I really love this card, but the camera did not do justice to it. So here's a card I did for Steph just yesterday so that you can vaguely see better what it sort of looked like.
The swirly gap with name in the middle was way way cooler in my original card for Oakley. Lol.
MARCH 2012
Timaru month! Yes, I've been all over the country this year. And I haven't even been on my elective to the Cook Islands yet!!!
My new favourite technique - outlined image background stamping! :)
APRIL 2012
*Finally!!! New cards I'm sharing today!*
Okay... I actually made that first Lily of the Valley card before. You've seen it already. But I thought I'd just post it again, because I was very happy with the copics. Lily of the Valley definitely looks better with a hint of blue than pink. Haha. And no misting here, because it's not December 2011. LOL.
So yes, I finally have a butterfly set. I really love Summer Sunrise + Spring Moss + Aqua Mist colour combos. I'm a very pastel person after all. That top orange butterfly is a bit of 3D work with a bit of scoring and little bit of tape down the middle so the wings could 'come alive' so to speak.
This next card was a failure... well, that's what I called it. The final bit of embossing really killed it. But I liked the colours stamped onto the Rosie Posie flowers. Boy, Summer Sunrise + Berry Sorbet on flowers work like a charm.
So that's it! My cardmaking career in a nutshell ridiculously long post. I only realised as I was writing out this post that my stamping hobby didn't really start till August last year. Which is saying something (I should have been studying for exams!!! lol). There's a bit of phases with different styles coming through here and there which is interesting too. I hope I keep this wonderful hobby for the long years ahead because it has been really fun and I've met some really wonderful people (namely Steph - just a casual SHOUT OUT back to ya! ^^)
Thanks for reading this ridiculously long blog post. I hope you found it enjoyable to a degree and not too boring! 101th post coming soon! :D
SUPPLIES & TOOLS:
(for new cards Apr 2012)
{Lily of the Valley - Take 2}
STAMP: [PTI] Year of Flowers: Lily of the Valley
INK: [Memento] Tuxedo Black
PAPER: [PTI] Simply Chartreuse, Rustic Cream
OTHER: [PTI] grosgrain ribbon (New Leaf), Woograin impression plate; [We R Memory Keepers] Crop-A-Dile Corner Chomper (aqua); [Copic] Sketch Markers (T1, G20, G24, YG95, BG11)
OTHER: [PTI] grosgrain ribbon (New Leaf), Woograin impression plate; [We R Memory Keepers] Crop-A-Dile Corner Chomper (aqua); [Copic] Sketch Markers (T1, G20, G24, YG95, BG11)
{Pastel Butterflies}
STAMP: [PTI] Beautiful Butterflies
INK: [PTI] Summer Sunrise, Spring Moss, Aqua Mist
PAPER: [PTI] Stamper's Select White
OTHER: [PTI] Beautiful Butterflies die collection; [Scor-Pal] Scor-Buddy
OTHER: [PTI] Beautiful Butterflies die collection; [Scor-Pal] Scor-Buddy
{Rosie Posie & Hexagons}
STAMP: [PTI] Rosie Posie
INK: [PTI] Summer Sunrise, Berry Sorbet, Spring Moss, Aqua Mist; [SU!] Daffodil Delight, Old Olive
PAPER: [PTI] Aqua Mist, Stamper's Select White
OTHER: [PTI] Diamonds impression plate, Rosie Posie die collection, Edgers #1 die collection, satin ribbon (aqua mist)
OTHER: [PTI] Diamonds impression plate, Rosie Posie die collection, Edgers #1 die collection, satin ribbon (aqua mist)
