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So for a really fancy-shmancy card, I may be in my room two, three, or even four hours working on it, if you count the time from idea to finished product. So when someone asks me how long it takes me to make the card I've just given them, I don't know what to say. "Yes, I spent 3 hours on it" Well, that makes me sound a bit crazy to people that are not crafters, doesn't it? Or do I say, "No, it only took me 30 minutes." Or, "I spent 3 hours on it, but I would have spent three hours making a card anyway, and it just so happened your birthday is this week so that's why you got the card. I'm really sad to see it go but I know it needs to go to its forever home"
My gosh I'm glad I'm not the only one. It is crazy to spend that much time on one card but I do it all the time. I'll have it almost finished then change my mind about the color of cardstock or something...I just want each one to be right. And when it is right I get such a kick of out it. People that don't make cards just don't get it. So I'm just vague with my answer when someone asks me how long it took to make a card.
I'm another one that will take 2 or three hours to make a card. I am always changing things around to make it look "just right" and then when I am totally satisfied with it I take a picture of it. Then I have to decide if the person I am giving it to is "card worthy" LOL! I get attached to my cards as you can tell......but every once in awhile I decide to let go and send them off to the Cdn troops because THEY are definitely "card worthy"!
No, Meg you're not the only one - I was beginning to think I was the world's slowest card-maker! But the time goes by quickly when you are involved in making something special for someone, don't you agree? And yes, Patricia, people DON"T get it if they've never made any. But there is a great feeling when you look at that card and know it's just right! So I smile and say "I didn't notice how long it took, I was having such fun!"
So for a really fancy-shmancy card, I may be in my room two, three, or even four hours working on it, if you count the time from idea to finished product. So when someone asks me how long it takes me to make the card I've just given them, I don't know what to say. "Yes, I spent 3 hours on it" Well, that makes me sound a bit crazy to people that are not crafters, doesn't it? Or do I say, "No, it only took me 30 minutes." Or, "I spent 3 hours on it, but I would have spent three hours making a card anyway, and it just so happened your birthday is this week so that's why you got the card. I'm really sad to see it go but I know it needs to go to its forever home"
And I am the only slow-poke around here?
Every once in a while, an original design will come together for me in about 10-15 minutes . . . I wish that happened all the time. ;)
It is not uncommon for an original design to take anywhere from 30 min-2 hours (by that I mean, not copying or making a modified version of something you've already seen done).
Of course, a lot depends on whether or not you had something in mind to begin with or totally starting from ground zero.
__________________ Julie Ebersole (JulieHRR once upon a time . . . )julieebersole.com"So shines a good deed in a weary world." -Willy Wonka
No, Meg you're not the only one - I was beginning to think I was the world's slowest card-maker! But the time goes by quickly when you are involved in making something special for someone, don't you agree? And yes, Patricia, people DON"T get it if they've never made any. But there is a great feeling when you look at that card and know it's just right! So I smile and say "I didn't notice how long it took, I was having such fun!"
__________________
Burn the land and boil the sea...You can't take the sky from me!
I'm really slow too. It's just best that I don't think about how long a card takes to make. Sometimes I loose my inspiration, or get interrupted, and it will be days or weeks or months or even years before I get back to some of them. If someone with an interest in cardmaking asks I might go into the story behind the card, but in most cases no one asks so, I just don't volunteer the information.
__________________ Use brown cardstock it help to conceal the chocolate fingerprints.
I am a slowpoke too, but you know, every detail has to be "just right" before I am happy with the finished product.
I just don't tell people how long either. If they ask, I just say "a looonnggg time and every minute was a joy!". That conveys how much fun I have doing it while also not minimizing the amount of thought that went into it.
Oh, I love iriseyes' response, too. It's just perfectly polite and makes the recipient feel extra special. Emily Post would approve. ;)
I can take hours on one design, too. Given how simple my "originals" are, this is sort of embarrassing, LOL! But I have fun and enjoy sweet victory when something FINALLY comes together.
I don't think being slow is a bad thing. I'd rather make one card that I'm happy with then try to whip out 10 that are just ho hum. (I rarely make multiples of one design.) We can always say, "I put a lot of thought into this card." or "I was thinking of you when I was making it." or "I designed it especially for you." or "it was a labor of love" or something like that.
__________________ Use brown cardstock it help to conceal the chocolate fingerprints.
I just tell people (if they really ask), that I don't keep track, I just enjoy creating them for someone. Since mine are each personalized, they realize it's for them. When they respond with the 2 magic words, I'm a happy camper! I do give away all the cards I make. I see no reason to keep them.
Practically every card I make, takes 3 hours or more. The reason being, I like to start a card and then step away from it and go do something else, and then come back to it later. I get my best ideas that way. The ideas just pop into my head once I step away from my project. It's just how my mind works...
I'm another one that doesn't really keep track of the time. Some cards can take a week if I can't get a design I like or I'm having a creative brain freeze.
What cracks me up are the cards instructions that say "10 minutes"... I wonder at what point does the clock start ticking?
By the time I get out the paper, supplies, and check the instructions one more time, I've used up my ten minutes. I guess if it is only one stamp, one layer, one color then it's ten minutes - oops, went over, had to grab an envelope....
sometimes it takes me hours, when I cant seen to put anything together othertimes in 30 minutes.
I guess it depends on the look I want ;)
Other times, It takes me days cause nothing seems to work for me lol
I'm another one that doesn't really keep track of the time. Some cards can take a week if I can't get a design I like or I'm having a creative brain freeze.
What cracks me up are the cards instructions that say "10 minutes"... I wonder at what point does the clock start ticking?
By the time I get out the paper, supplies, and check the instructions one more time, I've used up my ten minutes. I guess if it is only one stamp, one layer, one color then it's ten minutes - oops, went over, had to grab an envelope....
This is so true for me too. Ok, I've never actually timed myself making a card, but I'm pretty sure that it would take me longer than "10 minutes" too. Even if the card base was already cut and folded, and I had the stamps and ink sitting in front of me. I've never believed the "10 minute" card. For me a quick card would be maybe 30 minutes. That seems more realistic to me.
__________________ Use brown cardstock it help to conceal the chocolate fingerprints.
Even if I'm using a sketch I found somewhere, it takes me hours to make a card. If it's something I came up with myself, then all bets are off--it can take days! but as others have more eloquently said, I live for the process! I participated in a mini-VSN here awhile back, and hated it, simply because of the time limit. I tend to lose all track of time when I'm in my cardmaking "zone."
Even if I'm using a sketch I found somewhere, it takes me hours to make a card. If it's something I came up with myself, then all bets are off--it can take days! but as others have more eloquently said, I live for the process! I participated in a mini-VSN here awhile back, and hated it, simply because of the time limit. I tend to lose all track of time when I'm in my cardmaking "zone."
What she said. Precisely why I do not "VSN". I cannot work under the time constraints, unless I am simply reproducing a card I have already made.
If I had to make cards in 10 minutes, or even 30 minutes, I would less likely do it. I enjoy the fiddling.... placing all my elements on the table and moving them around until I like what I see. Call me loony, but it's therapeutic.
I'm sure it has taken me two hours several times to make a card but that is part of the pleasure of it....taking your time. When I hurry, you can be sure I will ruin it.
__________________ My Blog---My Gallery---My PinterestI'm a Punchkateer! (Prez) FOREVERDirty Dozen Alumni2014 CAS Spring DT--- Inspiration Challenge Co- Hostess 12/02/17-12/28/19 Watercolor Wednesday Design Team Hebrews 13:2Brenda
Ah, the "time" factor. I can't tell you how many times someone has asked me "how long did it take you to make that QUILT"--the answer is usually in the hundreds of hours. Stamped cards are my "quick fix" artistically, and interestingly I have very rarely had someone ask how long I spent making it.
I would just tell the person who asked that in the process of making a card, sometimes the "concept" behind creating the card takes more time than actually making the card itself. The process of creating "art" is a funny thing...sometimes a design (for a quilt or a card) can literally keep me awake at night, and I can't rest until the design is complete. I know that sounds odd, but it's the best way I can explain the creative process.
I'm really slow...on purpose. I take my time and make sure that everything is "just right" I have been working on a card for 2 days now just fiddleing with it because it doesn't look perfect to me yet. I'll admit that I may just give in and leave it as is because it's starting to tick me off! lol
I just smile and politely and say thank you. I won't work on cards that long. If it doesn't start to come together in 15min I walk away or start another. I love cas. I'll add embellies and have fun but if it takes longer than 30 min than that's not relaxing for me and if it's not relaxing then what's the fun?
__________________ Be who you are and say what you feel~ Those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind~
Whew, so I'm not the only slow-poke! The funny thing is two hours feels like only two minutes sometimes! I guess that means I enjoy doing what I'm doing!
This is a great thread...Yes, I admit it...I'm slow...I can't just whip up a card in minutes. It does take me awhile to come up with the idea and then I'm such a putz it takes another "awhile" to make said card. People always want to know how long it took and I fudge it or am vague in my answer. And does everyone want you to sell your cards?? I have people saying that to me all the time..well, if you take into account the materials and the actual time..my time would wouldn't be worth much! I just get such enjoyment out of creating that's the fun for me. I do give my cards away as gifts and am also donating some to Cards for Heroes. Back to the time question...I find myself in the last year or so making parts of a couple of cards at once..I'll stamp and color an image or cut them out, etc...then pick out cardstock and backgrounds and assemble a few later. Does anyone else do this? I may have a technique I want to try so I'll make 5 or 6 of that kind.
I always think I've been sucked into the "black hole" of my stamping room because hours can go by when I'm stamping -- with only one or two cards completed. The only reason I know that time passes by is that I tend to have a movie on or lately, the complete DVD collection of "A Haunting".
__________________ "There is a very fine line between hobby and mental illness." -- Dave Barry
I get asked how long it takes me to make a card. I explain that there is a big difference in time between designing a card and making a card. Designing can take 2-3 hours. If I had to remake it, it would only take about 30 minutes. If I made four of the same card at once it would take an hour to an hour and a half.
I might think about a card design for several days, but once i start to make it it has to get finished. If it's not finished by the time I go to bed it never gets finished.
I'm really slow...on purpose. I take my time and make sure that everything is "just right" I have been working on a card for 2 days now just fiddleing with it because it doesn't look perfect to me yet. I'll admit that I may just give in and leave it as is because it's starting to tick me off! lol
OMGoodness, Thank you! I often take days to make a card ... and mine will never get into the "fancy schmancy" category. It's almost like they have to be "born" and I enjoy the process of watching them grow into that "tah dah" moment.
(And I've never had anyone ask about the time (whew!) but frquently will be told I really ought to sell my cards, to which I'll just smile, thinking that if I charged an hourly rate, they're looking at at least a $100 card. LOL!)
(And is anyone out there who, like me, entered into this awesome hobby with the idea that the time it took to go to the store, shop for a card and come home would be the equivalent of the time it would take to make one?! LOL! That and the "cost savings" ... yeah ........ LOL!)
__________________ If you don't want your tax dollars to help the poor, then stop saying you want a country based on Christian values, because you don't. ~ Jimmy Carter
Do you ever lie about card-making time?
