Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Two craft days down and one still to come....

My sister Jess is on vacation and we booked two craft days together. I thought I'd embroider something. My teacher, I mean sister, had other plans. She was going to teach me how to make a card. Off topic...this book came to the store for me today. I am a HUGE Susan Branch fan so I was thrilled. 

Jess, pouring over pads of paper. Showing me how you choose the papers. Swear to god, she must have 500 pads of paper. And then there are the loose sheets. 

While I struggled with my card, she popped this together. Really!? How cute is this. 

My card starting to...ummm...take shape?

My headless girl needed bright red mittens, 

She has a paper rolling thingy with a handle that made these amazing raised dots on the card stock. Okay that is cool. and she has a Merry Christmas paper punch. Jeez. I have been living a VERY sheltered life. 

I had six pictures to select from. I chose this one, because Jess does not have a poker face. I can see she is about to burst out laughing. Probably tripped herself up doing a bit of "fussy cutting". Oh what is fussy cutting you ask? Google it. It's exactly what you think it is. Look at my headless woman on my card. See her boots. See the heels. Cutting around that with scissors...THAT my friends is fussy cutting.

A bow shaped punch. She has at least 5,000 punches. No I'm kidding. {Or am I?}

These are cling stamps. I've rubber stamped off and on for about 30 years and had NEVER used one of these. They really are cool. You can see what you are stamping and exactly where. They don't use wood/trees, and they store really flat. Wow.
{We crafted for two days and my card is not done. I will post a picture when I finish it}

Lessons learned:

**You cannot rubber stamp onto foil paper with a cling stamp and memento ink. You had to see it to believe it. Something electrostatic seemed to happen. The black ink kind of exploded onto the clear stamp and the red foil kind of jumped off its paper and made the stamp red with black ink bursts. Sorry about the stamp Jess. Who knew?

**I  do not love fussy cutting. It's stressful.

**You know those hand crafted cards that you see. And you go "$7.95....FOR A CARD...WHAT?!" Well I wouldn't sell mine for less than $1,256.99. I figure my time and effort are worth at LEAST that much! I DID FUSSY CUTTING FOR CHRIST SAKE!!!

10 comments:

Gardeningbren said...

Oh my, oh my....you made me laugh!! What fun!!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for spending time with me while I'm on vacation. I had such a great time with you! And it was to read about the 'magic behind the card'! Yes, my friend, this is how memories are made! LONG LIVE THE FUSSY CUT! Oh, and pffft, your card is worth WAY more than $1256.99!

Erin said...

I am so glad you enjoyed it. It was such fun!!!

Erin said...

Shudder.......fussy cut....still having nightmares about it.

Thank you for sharing your days with me. It was so much fun.

Mark Willis said...

Erin, I know exactly what you mean! My wife Jane has HUGE quantities of crafting stuff, and all the tools / gadgets for using it. As well as being a great cook, she is a very accomplished crafter. Maybe you should visit her blog "Onions and Paper" and see for yourself....

Pam's English Garden said...

Erin, I laughed so much! I am NOT a crafter and I am impressed by how much you achieved. If I made a card it would probably be worth 1 penny. P. x

Jane said...

HA! HA! It's official. You have the card making bug....it's truly addictive. I've been at it for years (www.janeyscards.com). It's very theraputic & like gardening, time just flies by. Looking forward to more of your creations. x

Erin said...

I checked out her blog. It's awesome. Thanks Mark.

Erin said...

I will post a picture of the completed card. Do you think you'll be putting in a bid? I'll start it out with a reserve bid of $1000.00. :-)

Erin said...

Jane, it was a hoot. It was so much fun spending that much time with my sister. I have a whole new appreciation for just how good at this she really is!