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After many years of sewing, I bought one pack of pre-folded, pre-printed cards on Overstock last fall. It was like a shot of heroin. I was hooked. I discovered this site accidentally a few months ago and it was off to the races. I read the forums, ask questions and have participated in a few swaps. I love love love working with paper. And it sure takes up a lot less space than fabric.
I haven't started a gallery. Still a bit shy about that part.
But I'm really happy to have found all of you talented, generous ladies who have made me feel as welcome as if I had been here for many years.
__________________ Debbie "Make it work, people." - Tim Gunn My Gallery
Its not that I mind sharing that info - its that I usually don't KNOW what it is. I am blessed to have tons of paper. I keep most scraps (one bin for each color) and try to work with the scraps to create cards - which are obviously smaller than scrapbook pages. So I don't know what the manufacturer is of most paper. I usually list the inks & markers because I only use copic markers and compatible inks. I have dozens of embossing folders by various manufacturers. Cuttlebug folders have the manufacturers stamp on the - but others don't. Sure, if someone asked I'd tell them what I know - but most of the time I just DON'T know. I think that is what frustrates me. :-)
I understand that! I have some paper that I bought and now I don't know where I bought it! I hate when that happens because its usually in the middle of a project when I need more! LOL
I used to post my cards, but then I deleted them all because I didn't think they were good enough. Some people are so great, I just didn't feel I could match up to them. I really enjoy the CAS Favorites on Sunday.
Have you considered that some galleries may look "good" because the "lessons" and learning curve creations are missing from them?
I am a last-minute (usually late) cardmaker so often there is no photograph. Also, I find downloading, editing and uploading a nuisance. I like to share whatever details I can but don't worry if all I say is white card stock folded in half and stamped in black ink LOL.
Comments are always appreciated but especially the heartfelt, sincere ones that say why they like it. Negativity does not belong in the gallery, IMO. If someone wants constructive criticism there is a thread just for that.
I do like the idea of my gallery being a record of my creations but not enough to keep it updated.
If this hobby/obsession ever stops being fun it will stop being my hobby.
After many years of sewing, I bought one pack of pre-folded, pre-printed cards on Overstock last fall. It was like a shot of heroin.
I laughed so hard I almost cried when I read this. I mentioned before that I have a very stressful day job. I used "fool around" with writing in the evening. Had a few things published. Then an agent contacted me and I wrote two books. Writing was a great creative way to let-loose... until it became work. I stopped writing (agent VERY annoyed btw LOL). I thought about what creative thing I could do that wouldn't turn into stress. "Ahhh... paper is good!" I thought. "If it turns out like junk, I'll just toss it out." LOLOLO Little did I know how much DP cost. All those pretty, sparkly, fancy papers just sucked me in. I never looked back. I still can't resist buying more paper, and believe me - I have TONS of paper I haven't used yet. It's just wrong. : Anyway... I DO understand the heroin analogy. Love my paper crafting!!!
__________________ Louise Bergmann DuMontAuthor, Speaker, Serious About Her Coffee, Lover of all that is Chocolate...Worshiper of El Shaddai (The All Sufficient One)
Thankfully I do way more creating cards than posting them on my gallery!! I don't post very often, but I always think I'm going to try to be better. LOL
__________________ The way to knowLIFEis to LOVEmany things!- Vincent Van Gogh
I have friends who say I should sell my cards. I say no, if I HAVE to make them, then it isn't any fun for me anymore!
I wholeheartedly agree. People still ask me if I will make (sew) something for them or do alterations. I tell them they can't afford me (but I will let them take me to lunch :p)
__________________ Debbie "Make it work, people." - Tim Gunn My Gallery
I've been a member here for quite a few years, and I have another thought about why some members may not post their cards in the gallery as frequently as they used to when I first started.
When I first became a member here, we didn't have quite so many other internet forums to compete with for people's time and attention.
Now we have Facebook and Twitter, which many folks follow and spend lots of time on.
There is also Pinterest, and probably lots of others that I don't even know about.
We all only have so much time and energy to devote to this hobby, and there are lots of things clamoring for attention these days.
__________________ Bugga in OK
"Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible." Dalai Lama
I do my time on SCS. I don't do facebook, twitter, or other sites. Occasionally will peek at Pinterest , but I spend so much time here, that I don't have any leftover for other sites!
I've been on here for many years but when I got a new computer I had to start all over. I couldn't get logged on or connected into here at all. I am a BIG lurker and not much of a poster. Also I've never started a gallery. It seems like a lot of trouble to me... however after reading all these posts I may try it. I do love the lurking!
I blog because it was a way to keep up with my "cardies" which is a group of lovely ladies whom I met online in England. We are all still in touch but I think I am the only one still blogging :lol:
I also blog as a diary to keep up with what I have done for whom and do that for myself. If others enjoy it all the better. I rarely look at how many visits etc. and don't view lack of comments to mean any more than I haven't put the time in to comment in the other direction. When I have, my comments go up! ;)
The gallery uploads have become a lot easier. I honestly put my card under my lamp and point and shoot with my phone and then upload it to Picasa and edit it. I am still working my way around Picasa but it is very easy and not too time consuming. Most of the time my pictures need to be lightened because I craft in the basement.
Copy and paste is my friend.
I also belong to the $500 a card club (at the very least!). :-P
AND I am so very grateful for every comment I receive because I am not a good comment giver.
I was reading a blog post today and the lady was commenting how her friends don't like to be photographed on blogs. I was thinking about this thread too. I wrote a comment I don't like posting myself on blogs or other sites either. I have a reason why. Years ago when I was a young girl in my twenties. I had a blog. I would post pictures of me. Nothing racy or anything. You know young twenty year old girl things like kissing my cat or modeling a cute outfit or something. Normal girl things. I kid you not I found out my pictures were "stolen" and were uploaded to one of those hot girl sites. I had all these guys commenting on my pictures. Thank gosh they were positive comments, lol. OMG there were some that were really raunchy. I was so friggin mad that some pervert stole my photos. What could you do back then? The Internet was in the baby stages. Lesson learned.
I think a lot of people don't post photos because they might get stolen. Even over here we had threads were people found their gallery photos on Ebay. They profiled a SCS users cards. Somebody else found their photos on a different blog. Was it over here that some lady actually found her work in a magazine? I can't remember if it was this site or Peas that happened at.
Also back in my twenties and early thirties. I was doing illustration work just as a hobby. I was blessed to be picked up by a small stationery company. A larger company actually stole my images and some of the other artists to make their own stationery. Not only did they steal from a small stationery company they stole from the artists too. Now, that one we did have a legal foot to stand on. We sued them and won.
Just another thought in this fun thread about why some don't post work in the gallery.
I just started "making cards"... actually, I have only made 1 card! I felt the rush to make one for an online friend who had just lost her dad. I took pictures of it with my cell phone (after all, it was my 1st card!), but the pictures came out awful!
I am using the excuse that I am still "gathering supplies", but the truth is I miss having been away from online craft communities for a very, very long time.
I also stitch and embroider, so if anyone wants to see my Flickr page, be aware there is no paper, ink or stamps! :eek:
Oh my gosh, your embroidery is so BEAUTIFUL! I love embroidery too!
Wow when I read your first post, I thought, this is me! I've been a member for some time now but not as long as some others! For me, it's a mojo thing. I want to get back into card crafting but I am having a hard time doing it. I have a nice craft area, and I look in that space and just love everything I have. But my situation is this: I'll try to make some cards but I'll start cleaning and organizing first, and that takes the time I had to create. So I create nothing. This craft does take organization! Cardstock by color and brand. Designer papers by theme and brands. Tools. Wow, my favorite thing! Stamps! Embellishments! I've sorted and organized stamps several ways now, and I'm still not quite satisfied.
I need to make cards and I've gotten behind in that. Why? I haven't posted in my gallery for a long time now too.
I still work full time, and will for quite awhile. My workload has increased, and I find myself bringing home work to do, and that robs my creativity time too.
I like this post and hopefully by reading responses, I'll find a way to just sit down and make a card for no reason, and hopefully find a reason to make quite a bit more!
Gillian: I totally hear you! I'm revamping my stamp storage as we speak (this is probably the seventh or eighth time and I have a bizillion stamps - over 70 companies represented), so it's no easy task. My problem is that I keep tweaking the categories for how I actually look for the specific image I want. Hopefully this will be the last time (yes, I am a dreamer)... Another thing that trips me up is that - when I do finally get a free moment to create - I feel like I should catch up on a few challenges or something instead of just allowing myself the freedom of play. I need to stop that and just enjoy the process, no matter what comes out!
DeeAnn: Thanks for posting your experiences so that we get a better feel for another aspect of this whole internet universe. Sad that negative has to infringe on so much positive, isn't it?
Everyone else: thanks SO MUCH for all of the great input! I feel so much better about things over in the "Sue-niverse", as one of my friends calls it
As for posting and not knowing where something came from...I usually put "can't remember..." in my space, and you know what? Usually someone comments and reveals the source...and I love that!
Gillian: I totally hear you! I'm revamping my stamp storage as we speak (this is probably the seventh or eighth time and I have a bizillion stamps - over 70 companies represented), so it's no easy task. My problem is that I keep tweaking the categories for how I actually look for the specific image I want. Hopefully this will be the last time (yes, I am a dreamer)...
Only 7 or 8 revisions? Novice!! I've been known to call a friend and ask her to come over and slap me because I'll reorganizing yet again. LoL
Dea
I just started "making cards"... actually, I have only made 1 card! I felt the rush to make one for an online friend who had just lost her dad. I took pictures of it with my cell phone (after all, it was my 1st card!), but the pictures came out awful!
I am using the excuse that I am still "gathering supplies", but the truth is I miss having been away from online craft communities for a very, very long time.
I also stitch and embroider, so if anyone wants to see my Flickr page, be aware there is no paper, ink or stamps! :eek:
Your embroidery is gorgeous! The best part of being a stitcher and card maker is using your leftover thread on your cards. I save all the leftover threads, floss, specialty threads, Kreinik and silk ribbon to use on my cards. The first card in my gallery has a piece of silk ribbon left over from a project on it.
Looking at my gallery I see I haven't posted anything since last June, yikes!! I've been lurking since then with occasional comments on the forum since having my third little one last fall. I've made many cards and other projects since then, but haven't had the time to upload, edit and post them. Also I tend toward "crafting ADD" and took a detour into sewing last summer, then into homemade herbal first-aid concoctions, then it was making homemade vanilla extract for Xmas gifts, and felt baby booties, yada yada yada.... Yes, life is more interesting with Pinterest!
When I first came across splitcoast I remember lurking here for about a year before I ever posted anything, mostly out of shyness and wanting to hone my card-making skills into making something more presentable, but also just to get a feel for the site and what the community was like. Happily I found this to be a very warm and welcoming place full of inspiration and a shared sense of joy in creativity of all styles, not to mention THE go-to site for any stamping-related information I might need.
I'm determined to get back to posting in the gallery at some point, like when I have more than one hand to use (whenever I sit down and check the computer these days it's always while holding and/or nursing my little one.) Luckily it only takes one hand to post on the forums. Same with shopping online, as it turns out. Oh yes, that one hand can get up to quite a bit of trouble now that it's memorized my credit card number :} When I have both my hands back again there's quite a stash of new goodies for them to play with!:oops:
I have been a member of several online sites and love sharing what I've made but it is time consuming. Sometimes I think I should pack up my newish Cannon and start taking pics with my point and shoot again, it was easier but that is my fault because I haven't sat down and studied the how to's of it. If I could figure out a way to take goodpics that are pre-sized pics with the watermark already on them when I uploaded to my computer I would be a very happy stamper-uploader.
if your camera is capable of shooting RAW format (instead of JPEG) and you import these from the camera to Lightroom ( an adobe program) on export you can have it set up to re-size and watermark the photo ( a simple text line) on export it will also convert it ton an JPEG file and you are good to go to upload. couple of clicks.
my post count proclaims me not to be much of a Lurker...:rolleyes:
I tend to only comment on threads like this if I see something I can add that has not been said 10 times already.
and I spend a great deal of time re-organizing and sorting through my stash. ( it makes me happy and I make get rid of it piles too sometimes) which also makes me happy. since I tend to be an out of sight out of mind kind of a crafter most of the things I like to use are out and so, they need sorted probably more frequently than people who have say cupboards they can close the door on when they want a clean space to look at.
I tend to upload tags and cards "freely" on the internet I started out online playing in an scrapbooking site and it was highly stressful to me the seeing everyone put their children and their personal info out there for everyone to read. and even though my son is now 18 I still hesitate to name him or post too much personal things like photos on the web much.
Thanks Stacy I'll check it out, my son will be home from college soon and I plan on enlisting his help figuring out some of the features on my camera. :mrgreen:
I, too, go in spurts. I'm very curious about new toys. I have no excuse for not uploading cards when I make them. They're on my phone most of the time - I just forget. (Or forget to take pictures.)
I make lots of cards and send them but have only a few in my gallery - the cards I made for my DD and SIL and she took the photos and uploaded them for me. I don't know how to upload, don't have a camera, don't want one and don't want to learn how to upload! I'd rather spend my time making cards. I do post comments and love looking through the gallery and that's what I'll continue doing. I'm so grateful for all the people that do upload all the wonderful cards.
This is exactly how I feel too....except I don't have a gallery.
__________________ Lorraine
Wife to an awesome DH, Mommy to an adorable DS who is on the spectrum for autism, and Twin Sister to Linda
I have just recently made a Mother's Day Card that was actually my own creation, so to speak. I will hopefully make a gallery and post it. Most of my cards are copies of creations that someone here has done, however, let me say that without the inspiration and you taking the time to post your creations in your gallery, tell what was used and thank goodness have tutorials, I would never have learned how to stamp. This site has taught me everything I know in stamping.
When I look through people's galleries I do leave a comment most of the time when I find a card that I like. I don't leave comments just to do it, but really do mean it. I have always been answered when I have a question on how to do something and have always been so grateful that I found this wonderful site. I see your posts and galleries so much that I feel I know some of you.
It's a wonderful craft and this site is filled with talented, creative and well meaning people. So a HUGE 'THANK YOU!" to those of you who do take the time to upload your cards and make tutorials. I bet you never thought of yourselves as "Mentors" but you are.
Oh my......I, too, would not have started card-making if not for this wonderful site and the creative, loving people who post their suggestions, instructions, and pictures. My reasons are so different - I don't have a camera! Yes, probably the only person in the WORLD! lol We also do not have a cell phone. I would LOVE to post my creations - have no clue what type of camera to buy or how to upload anything to the gallery. We have a 14 year old dog and have only a few pictures of her when she was a puppy. :(
When stumped on what to do with a stamp set, I like going to the gallery for inspiration and yes, to Case, as well. I upload Cased cards, but I make sure, on my blog, to either mention or say it is a Cased card or I was inspired by. There are so many helpful, caring people on this site and when I was a total newbie to stamping, so many wonderful ladies were so kind and helpful. It was very nice and still is nice to be around them .
I've been a member for several years but have never uploaded any of my cards. I did try once and it didn't work. I make a lot of cards so enjoy looking at this site for ideas or to see how others might have made cards using stamps I have. I usually scan my cards so I have a copy. My question - are we only allowed to upload card photos taken with cameras? Always nice to read comments from fellow stampers!
I've been a member for several years but have never uploaded any of my cards. I did try once and it didn't work. I make a lot of cards so enjoy looking at this site for ideas or to see how others might have made cards using stamps I have. I usually scan my cards so I have a copy. My question - are we only allowed to upload card photos taken with cameras? Always nice to read comments from fellow stampers!
Most of my first entries were scans. Whatever image you have whether from scan or photo works.
I don't take/upload pictures of most of the things I make. I just don't have the time. I post when I feel that I can contribute to a conversation, and I sometimes ask questions to get information and opinions.
I agree totally. I am just getting the card samples I have of what I've made through the years inputted on my own computer. I still have a long way to go. Seems like redoing it on this site would take another couple years. I don't blog for the same reason---I would rather create than write about it. I do post when I think I have something to offer and even attach a picture now and then. My questions almost always get answered and I answer every question I'm asked. But I think a gallery would be more that this technology-challenged brain could manage without taking so much time. I am certainly glad there are those that have a gallery and share their crafts as they are really inspiring.
Seldom comment as you can see. I must way up to 155 or so posts in ten years. But I am a "lurker" and love it. I have no desire to upload or start a gallery. I already am my own worst critic. I take copies (not photos) of card I make and I usually make cards for a specific person or occasion and go back to them for ideas. Seldom make duplicates. I also spend time organizing as this is the "bean counter" in me. I love the ideas and knowldge I get at SCS.
Last edited by snowowl; 05-07-2014 at 06:15 AM..
Reason: correcting number of posts
[QUOTE=arlenevita;20618301]It seems like too much effort to photograph cards, get them off the camera and onto the computer, upload, and then figure out what company's supplies I've used to add to the info section since embellishments, etc. may not be in original packaging. I don't really feel the need to show my cards here. I just like the people I send my card to to appreciate them.
I agree with those who don't know where they got what. I've been doing this for over 20 years and I swear, I just used an embellishment that I've had for 15 years on a card with a new stamp set that has been sitting here waiting for ink since last July. I am so lucky to be able to have so much, but remember it?! HA! Here's another quandry and I'm glad this thread was started, so I could share this. I don't post cards because I forget if it's a CASE and who it was I CASE'd. I see SO many good, bad and "ugly" (and I use that term loosely...nothing that an artist makes is ugly). I may have a card stuck in my head for months and then BAM! one day it works for a stamp set, set of embellishments, colors, whatever. I can't remember who to give credit to for the design of the card. I do not want to be accused of stealing anyone's work. On the flip side, I've created cards from scratch..all proud of my brain being able to put together something all by its little self...and then a few days later see my "original" in a gallery. HA! Makes me chuckle.
I wait for Wednesdays to read your wonderful Weekly Inkling. I spend a lot of time looking at cards, posting to my favorites, sending links to fellow cardmakers, etc. I save ideas on Pinterest and in word docs, in email folders also. Oh, and I buy supplies! It seems that I too enjoy the idea gathering, planning and shopping way too much, compared to the actual card making. If it weren't for needing so darn many sympathy cards, I might go weeks without making a card. Must change my mindset!
This post made me laugh! Great topic. My first year of stamping I was a bit apprehensive about posting amongst what I considered to be a site full of "perfect" creations! My courage to share increased more and more as I posted and was encouraged by fellow stampers (which is why I think commenting can be very powerful). However, I must admit that sometimes I just want to "learn" or "get organized", and I can find just as much pleasure in learning and sorting paper and products as I can in making a card. The entire creative process is relaxing, and I guess I don't really favor one over the other as much as I did in the beginning. It's all good!
