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Maybe its one of those things - you have to try it to appreciate it? Endless creativity, originality, acheiving a higher level of quality with each attempt? Good luck explaining. Just sit down the person and have them make a card. No words necessary after that!!!
There is something relaxing, exciting and creative to take a stamp and turn it into a little work of art. No drawing skills required! Plus, you have something to send to someone else, which I really like.
Oh, and it doesn't cost much.
LOL
__________________ Dear Paperlicious is my blog...with a series on how I'm learning to improve my cardmaking by studying others.
For me, it is a outlet for creative expression. Sounds hoakey, but it is true. I can't draw and don't consider myself particularly creative. But with stamping, I can get an image onto a page (looking like I drew it) and then color (which I love to do....still like to sit and color with my nieces and nephews).
I feel the pleasure I get from creating is tapping neurotransmitters (sorry...I'm a pharmacist), like serotonin and adrenalin that are increased due to the pleasure. In turn, from those increases, you feel good. Especially if the creative side of your brain has not been all that active. My husband is an artist (hobby) and says he gets a high when he does creative work (doesn't do it that often...hence the high, maybe?).
I really do think it has to do with the left side/right side brain thing. Plus, the pleasure on the other person's face when they get a homemade creation. That would make anyone feel good!
For me, it is play time. Like I'm tapping into that side of me that enjoyed being creative as a child. We have some many responsibilities as an adult it's good to have something where we can just feel free to play. Doing something creative has always been a stress reliever to me. When I can double that pleasure by giving someone a hand-made card or gift or better yet, teaching others how to make it too, that's all the much better to me!
__________________ I LOVE being a SU demonstrator! my gallery my blog
I love feeling "artistic" when I'm really not. For me, there's safety in that 4x5 boundry ! I admire folk who scrapbook and I can't even begin to tell you my respect for true artists. With my little piece of creative heaven, if it turns out - what a trip! If not - recycle and no harm done.
It's a great hobby for someone with small children - you can complete a card in as little as 10 minutes. The satisfaction of finishing something for a change can't be beat!
__________________ Work is for people who don't know how to stamp.
I absolutely agree Valerie...except, I don't think I have ever really completed a card in under 30 minutes.
Card making gives me the chance to be artistic and playful...and allow me some quality ME time And, that feeling when something turns out better than I planned...WOW!!! Nuthin' better!!
This may sound hokey, but to me the creative process is spiritual. I find if I listen to that inner part of me then I feel as I do when I'm focused on my higher power.It's using your hands to create from the mind and soul. I feel the same way when I garden. I'm not fantastic at either artform, but I enjoy jumping in and doing MY best work.
I think I spend more time focused, meditating while stamping than I do any other time. That's why when I don't get to do some of it regularly, I'm not centered, not focused.
All the responses in this thread are great by the way!
It makes me feel creative and it's fun and relaxing all at the same time. For someone who grew up being told I was not artistic it is a joy to be able to create, or even to recreate a card that others will enjoy receiving. And I can't beat the fact that it can be done quickly. It has truly become a blessing in my life. I'm sure other's will agree. I feel sorry for those who believe they can't create a card. What a lie.
It makes me feel creative and it's fun and relaxing all at the same time. For someone who grew up being told I was not artistic it is a joy to be able to create, or even to recreate a card that others will enjoy receiving. And I can't beat the fact that it can be done quickly. It has truly become a blessing in my life. I'm sure other's will agree. I feel sorry for those who believe they can't create a card. What a lie.
Sibylle
This is me exactly! I can't even draw a stick figure... but I do have an eye for color. Stamping allows me to be artistic... something I never thought would be possible.
It also gives me my ME time... I can shut put the world and all the stress of my daily life and just let go. I turn off my phone, lock my door and forget about everything except stamping.
I find relating my love for papercrafts to something another person loves helps. My DH had a hard time "getting it" until I pointed out that it was the same creative pleasure he gets from cooking. He loves to play with flavors, invent recipes, and try new or challenging stuff, and he must have high-quality tools and ingredients to have the best results. When I pointed this out to him, he suddenly got it and stopped scratching his head in puzzlement.
Basically, papercrafting allows me to
1. express my creative side (which was repressed for way too long),
2. finish something and have something to show for my effort (as a SAHM, most everything I do is repetitive and gets undone almost as soon as it's done--think laundry, dishes, toilets, diapers, yadda, yadda),
3. share my efforts with others,
4. experience retail therapy with a purpose (LOL!)
5. challenge myself to learn new things, look at the world differently and creatively, and grow as a person,
6. play and have fun, by myself or with girlfriends!
Who wouldn't do something that was so satisfying!?!
I still feel new at this, although I started over a year and a half ago. I agree with the comment that there's some 'left brain/right brain' stuff going on. I think for me it's partly a midlife thing (I'm 52, guess that's well into midlife if you take things literally!!!!). It's funny: my mother keeps saying to me "I never thought I'd see you enjoying something like this." or "I never thought I'd see you staying so still for so long in one place". I think it helps me develop parts of me that I didn't pay much attention to in earlier years.
Plus I really, really enjoy making something for someone specifically, so they know that someone cares enough to give them something that took personal time (although they'll probably never guess just how long some cards can take!!!! or how many versions I go through).
__________________ Betsy
"All that glitters is not gold; all who wander are not lost"....Tolkien
As a child I was taught that anything crafty or artistic was a waste of time and silly. When I gave my mother gifts that I made at scout camp or Sunday school, she would ridicule them and throw them in the waste basket. So, d'ya' think mebbe I ended up a little repressed creatively??
I will never forget the first Stamp Camp I went to. I brought home 4 cards that I made, and even though they were copied from someone else's ideas, I just LOVED those cards!
Stamping is therapeutic for me, and just plain fun. It also touches my feminity: pretty colors, ribbons, scallops, rhinestones, glitter! I'm in girly heaven. I get so much pleasure from creating a card. I just look at it and think, Look, I made something pretty!!
__________________ Janet aka Granna 'Safe?' said Mr. Beaver...'Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. but he's good. He's the King, I tell you.' --The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
I like papercrafting for the pleasure I get out of doing it- and also for those moments when someone looks at a card, ornament or whatever I've made and is genuinely pleased to receive it. I went to a bridal shower for my friend's daughter a couple of weeks ago, and Martha spent more time oohing and ahhing over the card than the present (which was something off of her list). That made me feel very good.
Cathy
As a child I was taught that anything crafty or artistic was a waste of time and silly. When I gave my mother gifts that I made at scout camp or Sunday school, she would ridicule them and throw them in the waste basket. So, d'ya' think mebbe I ended up a little repressed creatively??
Reading this breaks my heart. Oh, how I want to go back in time and give you a big hug! This will have to do: (((((((((((big hug))))))))))))
It's always nice to receive cards, even if bought at a store. It gives me pleasure to make a card or gift that I think a special person will enjoy. I think of the person who will receive the card when I'm making it, and I hope they think of me when they look at it. It's sort of a little personal connection with family and friends. I agree with what everyone else has said about feeliing artistic even though I'm not an artist. Eileen
__________________ The best things in life aren't things.
Reading this breaks my heart. Oh, how I want to go back in time and give you a big hug! This will have to do: (((((((((((big hug))))))))))))
Thanks. You're a sweetie! The stamping has been a huge step in my growth.
__________________ Janet aka Granna 'Safe?' said Mr. Beaver...'Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. but he's good. He's the King, I tell you.' --The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Carol, why do you think you have to explain it? You enjoy it, it brings you pleasure. THAT IS ENOUGH EXPLANATION! We are our own hardest critics when we say we are not "artistic." Believe me, if I can take paper, ink and rubber and create, I am Artistic. Even if I totally CASE a card, that is more than some can or want to do. Therefore, I am an artist. Even if I don't use oils, or watercolors, I am an artist. Don't explain, enjoy!
Dear GreatGranny, i am writing a little ditty for a craft day for children and I know why stamping is my love, but i needed to know why others are excited to do it to inspire my writing. I am so grateful for all the SCS helpers. Sometimes I volunteer and get in over my head.TFS
__________________ ~Carol
*avatar* Can I make your wish come true?[FONT="Fixedsys"][/
Isaiah 40:31
Location: prolly in my 'rubber room'... in the mid-west
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it is like therapy for me!
it is so relaxing and rewarding!
and i get a real boost when others gush about my creations.
i made a journal for my daughter last night... she has been out of town with her friend and will be home today, and i know she is gonna squeal! i can't wait to give it to her!
i'll be right back- now i feel the need to upload it! (made a bo bo, hang on)
Location: Where the water meets the sand in So Cali
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Can't draw to save my LIFE, but I can put together elements and color inside the lines! Sometimes, I'm not all that good @ coming up with ideas either....but I'm great @ CASING and changing things a bit to fit my needs. I like that everyone gets a handmade card from me...and they all appreciate it!
It's my attempt to rebel gently against and counteract our "electronic age."
Don't get me wrong - I love the Internet and emailing, texting and all that. But I feel like we can create a tangible connection to our friends and family by utilizing the old snail mail box...and that my cards are a personal extension of myself.
I've always been involved with some kind of color, whether as a makeup artist or when I was a techinician doing highlights and color at a hoity toity salon and spa.
When I had children and stopped working outside the home, I lost my creative outlet, I wasnt coloring on peoples faces or on their hair, I wasnt creating everyday.
Once I found paper crafts it allowed me to create, explore my love of color and have an outlet for my ideas.
Dear GreatGranny, i am writing a little ditty for a craft day for children and I know why stamping is my love, but i needed to know why others are excited to do it to inspire my writing. I am so grateful for all the SCS helpers. Sometimes I volunteer and get in over my head.TFS
Well, that puts things in a different light doesn't it? :rolleyes: That will teach me not to post after a glass (or two) of wine with my dinner. ;) Picture me stepping off my soap box right now.
I have a little stamp by DRS that is short and to the point:
"I share my heart when I give to you what I make with my hands."
That might help the children understand our passion.
I totally understand what you say about volunteering. I belong to a busy volunteer group here in the Phoenix area and one of the members has a T-shirt that says "Stop me before I volunteer again." We all covet that shirt. :-D
why do we do it?
