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If you could go back in time, and give yourself some advice when you had JUST started crafting, what would it be?
Mine:
"Stop buying and start making! You won't know what you need until you find your own sense of style."
I bought a lot of things I didn't know what to do with (and ended up throwing away), and a lot of things I didn't even like, because I thought it was what "people used when they scrapbooked."
I kept buying so quickly that I never got around to using anything. And when I started buying, I needed to buy the whole line...not just one item. Oh no, I couldn't leave it at ONE set of alcohol inks, I needed ALL of them (I have used three of them...only once). Twinkling H2O's...had to get tons of them...stickles, inks. Pearl Ex and Perfect Pearls...I don't even know what to do with them. Unfortunately 90% of the stuff around my room, I haven't even used.
I got that way FAST, and then I moved across the country, haha.
It was the best thing for my crafting, because it forced me to get rid of a lot of things, and now I have more space to fill with things that are more "me!"
I had to buy ALL of the new patterned paper.. All of it.. There was no way I could use the stuff before more new lines came in and pretty soon it was 3 years later and I was over-run with paper that I didn't like any more! I work at my LSS and the one thing I tell beginners is "Have a project in mind before you buy the paper, otherwise it will literally gather dust."
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SRM Stickers and Deconstructed Sketches.
I wish someone had given me that advice, haha!
I still have a LOT of paper that I can never find a use for...things with prints that are too large, or are colors I really don't like, etc.
Here's to knowing ourselves better!!
I wish I hadn't bought so much stuff to do scrapbooking since I quickly caught the stamping/card making bug instead.
I have boxes of stuff from our wedding (10 years ago this year) and for DS (he'll be 8 this year) just waiting for me to catch the scrapping bug.
I bought scrapbooks, 12 x 12 paper, borders. etc.... and there it sits.
Waiting.
For me.
To scrap.
One day.......it will happen :p
Hi Lorraine! This makes two of us. First I was interested in scrapping then I fell in love with cardmaking and from that time on up to now, I still say to myself, "one day I will be able to scrap". From the way it goes, I won't be surprised if I end up scrapping my kids' baby pics together with my grandkids' baby pics, lol!
__________________ Tina
- I love someone with autism. -
I wish I hadn't bought so much stuff to do scrapbooking since I quickly caught the stamping/card making bug instead.
I have boxes of stuff from our wedding (10 years ago this year) and for DS (he'll be 8 this year) just waiting for me to catch the scrapping bug.
I bought scrapbooks, 12 x 12 paper, borders. etc.... and there it sits.
Waiting.
For me.
To scrap.
One day.......it will happen :p
This is soooo me. I started out with the scrapbooking when my kids were very small. Now they are in high school and have not even started books for them. I am a card maker rather than a scrap booker at this point. Maybe some day I will get the bug...
Mine would be: buy the best quality you can. So many "cheap deals" end up being a total waste of money because they just don't perform well and you toss them out of frustration!
Mine would be: buy the best quality you can. So many "cheap deals" end up being a total waste of money because they just don't perform well and you toss them out of frustration!
I agree with Joanne & Susan. Quality is more important than quantity. I would have stayed far away from Michael's and just ordered more initially from SU....the non-matching issue caught up to me fast as well as the inferior cardstock...lots of stuff went to the preschools when I figured it out!
Yes, I would tell myself not to bother picking up things constantly on sale, clearance, etc. I still have so much that I couldn't pass up b/c it was such a good deal... I have purged a lot, though, and am happy where I am now. I know how to replicate most embellies myself or make do. And I know what I will use, so there are still things I buy.
Agreed on the stay away from "bargains" philosophy. Also, you truly need only a few stamps but tools are worth their weight in gold.
Other good advice I read on scs & have heeded when possible- if you're making one card it's just as easy to make 2. You use the other half of the CS and build your stash of cards too! This is important for me because I don't get much time to stamp.
Agreed on the stay away from "bargains" philosophy. Also, you truly need only a few stamps but tools are worth their weight in gold.
Other good advice I read on scs & have heeded when possible- if you're making one card it's just as easy to make 2. You use the other half of the CS and build your stash of cards too! This is important for me because I don't get much time to stamp.
I agree with staying away from bargains but I need more than a few stamps. I always make 2 cards and have a good supply on hand all the time.
Mine would be: buy the best quality you can. So many "cheap deals" end up being a total waste of money because they just don't perform well and you toss them out of frustration!
This so true for me too.
Quote:
I kept buying so quickly that I never got around to using anything. And when I started buying, I needed to buy the whole line...not just one item. Oh no, I couldn't leave it at ONE set of alcohol inks, I needed ALL of them (I have used three of them...only once). Twinkling H2O's...had to get tons of them...stickles, inks. Pearl Ex and Perfect Pearls...I don't even know what to do with them. Unfortunately 90% of the stuff around my room, I haven't even used.
This is me too. I have purged big time at least 3 times in the last 2 years. I keep buying stuff, but now it's mostly good quality SU products. Once in a while I regress and buy way too much of something that I can't possibly use. I love cats and dogs and this company was having a great sale on retiring stamps. I think I bought over 300 of them. I swear I'm getting better though.
I wish I hadn't bought so much stuff to do scrapbooking since I quickly caught the stamping/card making bug instead.
I have boxes of stuff from our wedding (10 years ago this year) and for DS (he'll be 8 this year) just waiting for me to catch the scrapping bug.
I bought scrapbooks, 12 x 12 paper, borders. etc.... and there it sits.
Waiting.
For me.
To scrap.
One day.......it will happen :p
THIS IS ME!!!!!!!!! I've been married 7 years this month and my kids are 19, 16 and 12.5 - the only scrapbook pages I have are one for each of them that I made ten years ago at a CM crop - ya gotta see them to believe - they look like a 5 year old slapped them together with a blindfold on! OKAY maybe not quite that bad but.......still nothing like what my cards (at least to me) look like now! Quality has definitely improved in my case!
__________________ Ann Marie Sometimes seamstress Sometimes CardMaker Mostly Mama
wish I had bought my genesis paper trimmer before I purchased 3 other trimmers.
I don't need every color...
and finally..
Just because you do wonders with a product doesn't mean I will!
fun thread...
Ugh, I totally agree with the "free" shipping.
Sure, the shipping is free, but the minimum order is $50 or more, haha! I get suckered into these "deals" almost every time.
I am slowly learning to wait.
I can WAIT to make an order until I actually NEED $50 worth of stuff, not just order another $50 of stuff every time I see the ONE thing I want!
I woulda told myself to skip all the other markers I've bought, and go straight to Copics. And then I woulda told myself to skip the kids' Crayola watercolours and go straight to the REAL watercolours. And I would've bought only enough paper to last me until Papertrey came into being.
Go with my gut instinct. Not buy things because that's what everybody else used. If you didn't use it then you were not good enough to be in their crafting world. I was never in the "In" crowd at high school. I don't know why I felt the need to do that when I started crafting. Depression I guess. Girls and guys starting out. Your cool, don't join cliques. !
Make most of my tools and embellishments. I really love to do this.
I don't mind all the purging and finding my style. I really don't mind buying things and then getting rid of it. DH & I have always done that because we love to learn and pass it on. I think it's fun to purge and see how I have grown and who I am becoming as a crafter.
Yes, I would tell myself not to bother picking up things constantly on sale, clearance, etc. I still have so much that I couldn't pass up b/c it was such a good deal... I have purged a lot, though, and am happy where I am now. I know how to replicate most embellies myself or make do. And I know what I will use, so there are still things I buy.
Oh, this was me to a tee! Do NOT buy all that stuff on clearance solely to fill up your stash. Now I only buy what I know I'll use even if it's not on sale/clearance. I'd much rather have ONE package of nice Prima flowers that I'll use than 5 packages of clearance junk that will sit and sit.
I also like the buy quality advice. Fortunately for me, I did this with all my tools and larger purchases.
Oh and finally, if it costs $1, that's about what it's worth. All that money wasted on $1 bin stamps that don't stamp right, ribbon that I've never used, ink pads that are splotchy, etc. If I could have that all back, I'd be such a happy camper.
I started with 8.5"x11" albums because that's what would fit on my bookshelf. After finishing 6 or 7 of them, I realized I hated them and wanted them all to be 12"x12". I re-did every one of them, but I had trimmed pictures in the shapes of hearts, and ovals and stickered them all to death. UGH!!!!
Shoot me if I ever say that I want to buy another sticker or trim all the photos on a page to funky shapes.
I do have a tv in my craft room, but my back is to it, so it's only on for background noise while I work (to drown out the sound of anyone calling my name).
I wish I'd known about Stampin Up when I started scrapbooking. I knew that my sister-in-law used stamps in her scrapbooks, so when I started I wanted to too. But when I went to Michael's the first time, I looked at all those individual stamps that were so expensive, and I just didn't know where to start. So I ended up buying a lot of cheap patterned paper and stickers. Once I discovered SU a couple years later my scrapbooks really improved.
__________________ Julie my gallery
I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. Phillippians 4:13
I wouldn't buy the full size SU inks. I got some teardrop shape 'spots' that work just as well inking up even the background size stamps and they take up much less room. When the colors changed last year, I was stuck with more than a few large size retired pads. From now on, I will buy reinkers and make my own spots.
As a SU demonstrator I can't use retired products for make & takes or swaps with other SU demonstrators. It's kind of a basic guideline that you don't use anything in workshops that you can't sell. Some swaps say that it is against the rules to use retired products.
Stela, I'm confused: why are you stuck, as you call it, with retired pads? Do the colors go out of style? Do they stop being useable when the colors in the catalog change? I'm lost here.
As stupid as it sounds, for some purposes, yes they do stop being usable! If you submit your work to magazines, for example, most will not accept submissions unless the products you use are current so a retired ink colour is a no-no. Sad but true.
In a sense you are 'stuck' because you can't get the matching paper, ribbon etc. Plus, after having them a while, I realized I really didn't like or use some of the colors I did buy, I think I just bought some each time I placed an order to build up my collection. Had I thought it out sooner, I may have just collected spots instead of full size pads.
Diane
I'm with you all the way. I spend more time reading the blogs, checking out the galleries and wandering the forums, than I do actually creating, then when I need a card, panic sets in as I have only a few days to get it to the person!!! I miss having someone to stamp with, I used to make a lot more cards if I knew someone was coming round!
I kept saying no to unmounted stamps...it's just too hard to figure that out..I always went with the wood mounted if there was an option....Until a nice lady at one of the stamping shows introduced me to acrylic blocks and showed me how to do the ez mount....I also should have tried some things out before buying multiples...like rub ons..I have never had much luck with them. And when eyelets were the big deal I bought a bunch..haven't used one in a couple of years or more.
I I wish I knew that I'd need/want an inventory system (and that it would be best to start when I only had a few things).
I fit into so many of these stories! Inventory system is number one. I wish I had read all the organizational ideas before storing and I wish I had made copies of all my SU sheets before putting them on the stamps in the beginning.
I wish I hadn't bought one of each color in the puffy paints! That goes for ribbons too. I must have 200 or more rolls of ribbons! I get so excited when I empty a roll!
Be playful...just have fun...make a mess...don't try to "make art"...try anything...enjoy the time...the tools...the "toys" on the craft table...make friends with kindred spirits who "get it" and will laugh and create with you.
I started with 8.5"x11" albums because that's what would fit on my bookshelf. After finishing 6 or 7 of them, I realized I hated them and wanted them all to be 12"x12". I re-did every one of them, but I had trimmed pictures in the shapes of hearts, and ovals and stickered them all to death. UGH!!!!
Shoot me if I ever say that I want to buy another sticker or trim all the photos on a page to funky shapes.
OMG! You made me laugh so darned hard with this!! I have so many pictures cut to weird shapes that I could literally shoot myself also!!! I am actually going back and "redoing" some things too because I am such a better scrapper/cardmaker now than I was 8 years ago when I started scrapping.
I will echo the "dont have to get it cuz its on sale" philosophy...and I am guilty of jumping on the bandwagon of getting every stamp set that I saw someone use in a way that I liked. My shelf is FULL of stamp sets I should sell off because they just aint me. I know my style so much better now!
Ditto on eyelets (stupid things!), buttons, ribbons and many many other things that I just dont seem to make work well.
What we should do is start a thread in the trade forum so we can all trade our "mistakes" with each other! Ha Ha!!
"If I Only Knew Then..."
I do that too!
Girls and guys starting out. Your cool, don't join cliques. 
