I have always been a creative person. As a kid my favourite "toys" were not the Barbie and Sindy dolls, or the Girls World head. Instead I loved books (my other blog is called The Book Worm) and art supplies. I loved receiving crafting sets, and I still believe Christmas should include at least one crafty present! I remember working my way through the Get Set kits including candle making (didn't go well... Mum freaked out about the mess), papermaking, lace making (I made some lovely knots!), and oddly a planting thing with a mini-greenhouse in the shape of a tortoise (was not successful. I have never been green fingered!). I also had loads of paint by numbers, colour by numbers with pencils, kits for making figurines out of plaster and then painting them, stencil kits, and even a glass painting kit! My most beloved items were colouring books (I LOVE to colour) and a decoupage picture kit I received one year from my Godmother. I was only about 7-8 years old and it was quite a grown up kit. You had to build up a picture using foam pads and cutting out all the little pieces and layers. Once finished it went in a frame. I was so proud of it I had it up on my bedroom wall for years. It also started a passion for decoupage that would emerge years later.
At school my studies included an Art GCSE (an A thank you very much) and then an A' Level in Art (this time a B, but still fab!). I also studied other subjects for GCSEs and for my A' Levels Art was accompanied by History and English Literature. I loved studying art and building up sketch books, developing ideas, learning new techniques, experimenting and then finally creating a finished piece. When I went on to university I did my undergraduate in Visual Culture, and although my subsequent postgrad certificate and Masters degree began to focus more on Museums and History, I still retained my passion for art. I loved drawing and loved painting particularly with acrylics and watercolours.
She also regularly did cross stitch with many of her creations being framed and put on the walls of our house. I even have two framed cross-stitch pictures by her, including a rather special one. When I was born she bought a cross-stitch pattern from a local craft shop and was determined to make it for my bedroom room/nursery. As often happens life got in the way and despite starting it, it eventually got put away. When she moved to Norfolk after I had gone to University she found it again but still didn't have time to finish it. Then on my 30th Birthday a few years ago a very special parcel arrived. She had finally finished it and had it framed! Yes I was a bit old for dancing teddy bears, but it was the sentiment behind it which made it so special.
Since she moved to Norfolk and took early retirement she has indulged her passion for craft even further by attending local classes and added to her repertoire, lace making, quilting, watercolouring, parchment craft, jewellery making and most significantly card making. I say this is significant because it was her influence when I was 19 which ignited my passion for papercrafting, over 13 years ago! While visiting her in Norfolk she showed me some cards she had made at the class she had recently joined. She then showed me her crafty stash which was already growing steadily. I immediately loved all the coloured papers and cards - right up my street! And then she showed me the decoupage sheets!!! At that moment my enjoyment of making that decoupage picture when I was 8 years old came flooding back. I had to have a go! So we went to her local craft shop where I selected a couple of decoupage sheets (ones I had to cut out, none of this fancy die-cut business) and some sheets of card with matching envelopes. I then went back to her's to play. I still remember my first card. It was a Flower Fairy decoupage on a leather textured piece of white card. I loved it. I was completely hooked. Mum gave me some of her peel off sheets and some card to take home with me, and I treated myself to a cheap craft knife set. When I got back home I immediately found my local craft shop which sold card stuff and bought more decoupage sheets and a self healing cutting board. That was the beginnings of my crafty stash.
In the 13 years which have followed my crafty stash has exploded and grown dramatically. I am not lucky enough to have my own craft room (I can dream!) but I have taken over most of the drawers and cupboards in the Front Room with crafty goodness and regularly take over the dinning table completely. Decoupage is still my favourite craft and I have drawers filled with sheets and kits, most of them now die-cut thankfully. More recently I got into stamping and colouring using Pro-markers thanks to a group of my friends pooling their money to get me a joint birthday present of a few packets of Pro-Markers which I then added to with some left over Birthday money. However I was also lusting after Spectrum Noirs but just didn't have the funds. Then last year my wonderful Mum bought me the complete Set 1 of Spectrum Noirs!!!!! I then managed to buy the Darks and Lights from Set 2 and since then with the help of the Tutorial DVD I have been learning how to use them. Hopefully will get the other 2 packs of Set 2 soon (plus the 5 new tins of Spectrum Noirs Pencils, and the more recent Spectrum Aquas which I just HAVE to get). Then at Christmas my Mum bought me my first ever die cutting machine in the form of the new Kirstie Allsop Cuttlebug. Its very compact and is a great place to start getting use to using dies. The only downside is that is doesn't fit the bigger embossing folders or dies as the plates are only A5 size. I would love to upgrade to a bigger die cutter like a Grand Caliber or an Ebosser but at the moment that's not possible. I am slowly building up my collection of dies too.
So thats basically how I became obsessed with crafting! These are just a few photos of some of my cards from recent years.
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