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you wished you knew (first) before starting to stamp, card make, scrapbooking pages, etc.... Mine was, Yes it is stupid, how to read a ruler... It took me, I swear, a good three or four times to get the hang of it.
you wished you knew (first) before starting to stamp, card make, scrapbooking pages, etc.... Mine was, Yes it is stupid, how to read a ruler... It took me, I swear, a good three or four times to get the hang of it.
I have not been doing any of this for long, but when I first started I was all "why would you buy coordinating supplies...isn't half the fun finding stuff to match each other, etc...?" Well, it's all well and good to have some nice paper or cardstock here and there, and beautiful ribbon and other elements, but you really should invest in some coordinating stuff. You know, like Stampin' up and PTI...having stuff that works together perfectly lets you really spend your time on actually papercrafting, and not hunting through your stash for hours looking for things to match...
the proper tools. yes get your stamps and paper supply going, but to have the proper tools is so important. do you want to spend all your time cutting your paper and folding it or get a decent paper cutter with good rules on it. cut out those circles or get a punch or a machine to do it for you!! oh the wasted time!
you wished you knew (first) before starting to stamp, card make, scrapbooking pages, etc.... Mine was, Yes it is stupid, how to read a ruler... It took me, I swear, a good three or four times to get the hang of it.
Me too!!! I kept thinking I must have been sick and missed school when they taught "ruler" I still make mistakes now and then.
I wish I knew that I didn't need to jump on every bandwagon that came along and that the stuff that was being "released" would be there in a month or two or longer if I had a chance to think "Do I really like/want/need this??????".
Maybe we'd still have a dining room where we could eat once in a while instead of Michael's Annex right off the kitchen.
You're nodding your head, aren't you? I know you are! I can hear the marbles rattlin' around through cyberspace!!!
__________________ Work is for people who don't know how to stamp.
I wish I know my style way back when. I spent so much time and money buying "cute" retired SU sets off ebay, then in the end sold them as they were not my style.
Got to know your style!!!
__________________ The quickest way for a parent to get a child's attention is to sit down and look comfortable. Practice safe eating always use condiments
I bought TONNES of paper... Maybe even literally tonnes.. hahaha... I am now on a kick where I actually USE my paper. What a novel idea!
I also bought a lot of stamps that I don't use, but I think I needed to go through that to find out what my style really is.. So I don't think that's avoidable; but really think about your purchases and think about their versatility.
__________________
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I design for: Stampendous!, There She Goes, Technique Tuesday,
SRM Stickers and Deconstructed Sketches.
I wish I knew that I didn't need to jump on every bandwagon that came along and that the stuff that was being "released" would be there in a month or two or longer if I had a chance to think "Do I really like/want/need this??????".
Maybe we'd still have a dining room where we could eat once in a while instead of Michael's Annex right off the kitchen.
You're nodding your head, aren't you? I know you are! I can hear the marbles rattlin' around through cyberspace!!!
ROFL! I'm right there with you. Can you hear the marbles rattlin'? ;)
I wish that I would have realized that unmounted stamps are just as good as wood mounted and started unmounting my wood mounted as I bought them instead of having to do a lot of unmounting now.
that inexpensive paper looks like inexpensive paper no matter what you do to it.
My kids now have expensive construction paper because it was inexpensive cardstock!
The cardstock thing for me too. I wish I'd never spent any money on cheap cardstock. I have gotten rid of all of it now but for a while it sat there and irked me.
__________________ My BlogMy GalleryAll dog's feet smell like Fritos. I know you don't believe me, go check... See, I told you so.
I wish I'd known that if you are going to color something, you better know what papers and embellishments you want to use on the card first, and then match with the coloring. It's too darn difficult to color first and THEN try to find the papers and embellishments to match. This seems very elementary, but I swear, it took me years to figure this out!
I know this seems a little mean. I don't mean it too. I wish I didn't listen to all the advice. I had a lot of well meaning people tell me if I didn't have this tool or that tool then my creations wouldn't look right.
At the time I had barely any tools and was using my creativity and my cards were beautiful. I bought all the darn tools and became so overwhelmed I became depressed. Not joking about this. Also, had some other things going on in my life too like surviving a natural disaster, several losses of fur babies, etc.. That didn't help with my creativity either.
Now I am back to simple and I am creative again.
The best advice I ever got. Buy Versafine Black Ink and White Card Stock.
I know this seems a little mean. I don't mean it too. I wish I didn't listen to all the advice. I had a lot of well meaning people tell me if I didn't have this tool or that tool then my creations wouldn't look right.
At the time I had barely any tools and was using my creativity and my cards were beautiful. I bought all the darn tools and became so overwhelmed I became depressed. Not joking about this. Also, had some other things going on in my life too like surviving a natural disaster, several losses of fur babies, etc.. That didn't help with my creativity either.
Now I am back to simple and I am creative again.
The best advice I ever got. Buy Versafine Black Ink and White Card Stock.
I have to agree with this. lol While all the ladies here are well meaning, there are some that are better off than others and can afford better toys. While sometimes, the broke ones of us are left feeling...well, broke. lol
Here's what I wish I knew: Learn about what people are using, buying and how you can cut corners and make due without spending all the money.
I bought a Cricut because everyone else said they couldn't live without it and I almost never even look at it, let alone use it. THEN, I went out a bought a Cuttlebug and Nesties and find that that is a much, much cheaper and versitile tool.
While people were running out and buying Score Pals (a tool I still cannot afford - lol), I was making due with my Fiskars trimmer and a bone folder in the groove of the trimmer. (Keeping my eyes peeled for Martha's version, though.)
So, that's what I've learned. And like others here, I wish I'd taken the time to discover my personal style and consider how I would use a stamp before I bought it. She who dies with the ugliest stamps DOES NOT win. lol
__________________ Sophia I got a reality check but it bounced.
to only buy supplies that you REALLY love. If you have a stamp, even if it costs $10, if you really love it, you are going to use the heck out of it. That's better than two $5 stamps that you hardly use or ten $1 stamps that you never inked.
Second one is to get good cardstock, simple things like that can make the card look so much more professional.
How much this particular craft can become addictive!!! Also, how much fun it is to make cards - I am not an artist artist but use the card front as my 'canvas'.
I have always done some type of craft or other. I have 1 brother & 4 sisters and I am the only one who is doing some kind of craft because, other than read, I can't just 'sit there and watch TV'. Right now, I am trying to scrapbook pictures from a trip I took last summer (between myself & several friends, I have hundreds of pictures to go through), knit some socks & a scarf for my daughter (she placed and 'order' over the holidays), learn how to use my Cricut via classes and software and make cards for my church craft group that meets at the end of this month.
I can't have any sit down formal dinner anytime soon--- The dining table is covered with my tools!!!!
I wish I had taken a day to think about some of my purchases. I have a lot of stuff I dont use and I find if I think about it for a day or so often times I dont purchase. I still have to buy all the MS punches...love those..but always buy with a coupon.
blessings.
Ditto all the comments to use good quality cardstock. It took me awhile to figure out why my cards never seemed as nice as the ones I made at the Stampin' Up! workshop.
I also wish I had figured out how to use the Stampamajig sooner - all those crooked sentiments and ruined cards!
I wish I knew how obsessed I would become with all of this. I did not have an obsessive personality until after I made my first scrapbook page. I also wish I knew how much money I was going to spend on this obsessin. It could have paid for a luxury vehicle by now! I probably would not have bought my very first stamp for my scrapbook if I knew that stamping was about to suck me in. Most of all I wish I knew in advance what SCS was going to mean for my time management and my budget so I would have forced myself to stay away.
I spent too much time buying and looking on SCS than I did stamping. Still do!!!!
lol... it's true that I spend a lot of time LOOKING instead of stamping. But... I wish I'd known about SCS when I first started trying to make cards. I REALLY needed then -- and still do now! -- the inspiration and advice this site offers.
__________________ Lindsey Please visit my little blog, or my gallery...
Oh, you ladies have hit the nail on the head with this..... I can just sit here and agree with everything. I too have learned to cut corners, but those da gum infomericals kill me.. You don't need it, but it is on T.V. LOL....
I'll chime in on the cheap cardstock song, too. The worst I ever got was a pack at AC Moore that was not solid core and is just weird colors. I thought it would be great to have because the colors were so "different."
This is hysterical as to all the why and this is what I did. We didn't have a lot of money and I was actually was dumb enough to think I could SAVE MONEY.....oh baby was I wrong...years later and the gotta have is still in my heart and head...the money may not ....but remember to save up and then go get it........Much love to all the sisters involved in this post....
-What is the one thing
